Assassin's Creed Kept Behind Enemy Lines
by mnp1689
Summary: Desmond Miles was a member of the Templar Order, and tasked with the infiltration of the Templar Order, in order to end the Assassin-Templar War.
1. Chapter 1

Assassin's Creed

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my ancestor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad in the Animus 1.28 at Abstergo Industries Rome facility. In early 1191, Altaïr and the brothers Malik and Kadar Al-Sayf were tasked with retrieving an artifact from the Templars in Solomon's Temple. After progressing through the catacombs, Altaïr broke. two tenets of the Assassin's Creed, but arrogantly dismissed the warning against his actions, confident in his mastery as an Assassin.

Finally, upon seeing the archenemy of his Order - Robert de Sable - Altaïr broke another tenet; risking the safety of the Brotherhood. Having attempted to slay the Grand Master of the Knights Templar after making his presence known, Altaïr was easily thwarted, spared on purpose by Robert and thrown from the temple, leaving Malik and Kadar alone with the Templars. Altaïr escaped from the temple and Jerusalem to report his failure to the Order.

Upon returning to Masyaf, Altaïr was kindly greeted by Rauf who told him Al Mualim waited to hear how the mission went. At the fortress gates, Abbas and Altaïr exchanged several insults and threats before Altaïr informed Al Mualim of his failure to acquire the Templar treasure and was lambasted for it. Soon after, Malik returned with the artifact, alive but alone, and with a heavily injured left arm, shouting at Altaïr, blaming him for Kadar's death. Before any further action could be taken, the Templars attacked Masyaf.

While the Templars were attacking the village, slaughtering its inhabitants, and besieging the castle, Altaïr and several groups of Assassins ran to defend it. Altaïr killed many attacking Templars, and thought of staying and fighting until he was defeated, thereby redeeming himself for his actions at Solomon's Temple. However, thinking it would be a waste, he retreated to the fortress along with the other Assassins because they were being overwhelmed by the Templars. Along with Rauf and another Assassin, Altaïr led the defense of the fortress. Performing a Leap of Faith and sneaking behind the Templar army, Altaïr unleashed a torrent of felled tree logs, crushing the Templar army and driving them away from Masyaf.

Once the attack was over, the matters of his actions in Solomon's Temple were addressed once again. Altaïr, having broken all three tenets of the Creed, failing to acquire the Templar treasure, causing the death of a brother and the incapacitation of another, as well as being responsible for all who had died in the Templar attack, was deemed a traitor to the Creed. Al Mualim declared this judgement before the entire Order, before stabbing Altaïr in the stomach with a dagger .

Altaïr awoke from his "sleep of the dead" and questioned Al Mualim of his survival, with the Mentor answering that Altaïr had only seen what he had wanted him to see. He then stripped Altaïr of his rank and possessions as alternate punishment, though also offered him a chance for redemption.

Starting as a novice once again, Altaïr was tasked with hunting down the traitor within Masyaf who had allowed the Templars entrance. Successful, Altaïr returned to Al Mualim and was rewarded with the return of his Hidden Blade and sword. Once again officially a member of the Order, Altaïr was offered a trade; the lives of nine men in exchange for his own.

Altaïr started his quest, leaving Masyaf and riding to Damascus in pursuit of Tamir, his first target. Arriving there, he traveled to the local Assassins' Bureau and requested permission for the assassination. The Rafiq denied him, ordering Altaïr to first gather information about his target.

Going through the city's poor district, Altaïr interrogated informants, pick-pocketed letters and maps, and eavesdropped on conversations around him, ultimately acquiring the location of his target. Returning to the Bureau with this information, he received a pass for the kill and a white feather to be dipped in the victim's blood, as proof of the deed.

In a plaza of the market district, Altaïr witnessed Tamir slaying a business partner, and killed him as he examined the nearby stalls. Returning to the Bureau, Altaïr was told to return to Al Mualim, who rewarded him for this first step on the road to redemption, and granted him a piece of his equipment back. Altaïr then left for the other cities, Acre and Jerusalem, to pursue his next targets.

Proceeding on to Acre, Altaïr met with the Bureau leader to gather the information about his target - Garnier de Naplouse, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitalier. Learning that Garnier was located in the Hospitalier hospital in the city's Poor District and was trafficking men from other cities to Acre for him to experiment on, Altaïr infiltrated the hospital.

There, Altaïr found one of Garnier's prisoners running away from his captors. After the fleeing man was caught, Garnier ordered his guards to break the prisoner's legs to prevent him from making another escape, and had him brought back to his quarters. Garnier then returned to his usual routine of checking his patients, and was eventually struck down by Altaïr.

With his dying breath, Garnier revealed that he had used the Apple of Eden to conduct his experiments, but after its loss, his progress had slowed. He was also convinced that he was helping the people he experimented on, causing Altaïr to question his own opinion on Garnier's experiments.

Arriving at Jerusalem's Bureau, Altaïr was harshly received by Malik, that Bureau's new leader. Reluctantly, Malik sent him on his investigations, and received him once again when he returned. After obtaining the permission and the feather, Altaïr entered the slave complex of his target Talal, but was ambushed by his followers.

Dispatching them, Altaïr chased Talal across the rooftops and through the streets, finally catching up to him and putting a hidden blade in his neck. Altaïr returned to the Bureau and reported to Al Mualim once again. Gaining another piece of his equipment back, Altaïr once again had to return to all three cities to take out new targets.

Altaïr returned to Damascus to eliminate Abu'l Nuqoud, known as "the Merchant King." After investigating and receiving the feather from the Rafiq, he proceeded to the merchant's palace where a party was being held.

Infiltrating the palace, Altaïr arrived shortly before Abu'l Nuqoud began his speech, lambasting his guests for their intolerance and ignorance, before revealing he had poisoned the wine that was being served. As a number of the revelers fell to the poison, Abu'l Nuqoud ordered his archers to eliminate the rest.

Through the panic of the crowd, the Assassin scaled the palace walls, killing several archers in the process, and managed to climb onto the roof above his target. Jumping down and killing the Merchant King's bodyguard, Altaïr chased down and assassinated his target, once again setting the city on full alert, before losing his pursuers. Returning to the Bureau, he reported his success, before returning once again to Masyaf.

In Acre, Altaïr was tasked with the death of William of Montferrat, regent of the city and a lieutenant of Richard the Lionheart. Meeting once again with the Bureau leader, Altaïr gathered information on his target in the city's rich district, and learned that he was to meet with King Richard later that day.

Approaching as William and Richard quarreled outside the city fort's walls, he waited for the King to leave, before infiltrating the castle via the fortress walls. Waiting until William had finished berating his men for their perceived failures and had dismissed his guards, Altaïr struck from above, killing the Marquese of Montferrat. As usual, Al Mualim was informed, and Altaïr left the city for his next target in Jerusalem.

Within Jerusalem, Altaïr found his sixth target, Majd Addin; the illegitimate ruler of the city, who personally acted as judge, jury and executioner. During one of his public executions, Altaïr made his way through the crowd and onto the stage where Addin stood, killing him and saving an imprisoned Assassin who was mere moments from death. Fleeing from the guards, Altaïr returned to Masyaf.

Rewarded with another rank and equipment, Altaïr demanded Al Mualim of the truth behind connections between his targets. Al Mualim revealed to him that all nine of his targets were members of the Knights Templar, and that the treasure Malik had liberated from Robert de Sable held the power to control the minds of others. Content with this new information, Altaïr left for Acre and Damascus once again.

Altaïr's seventh target was present in Acre. The target, named Sibrand, was the Grand Master of the Knights Teutonic and paranoid with fear of the Assassin that had hunted down his Templar brethren. Reporting to the Bureau and investigating, Altaïr traveled to the city's ports, where he witnessed Sibrand falsely accusing a passing scholar of being the Assassin before cutting him down. Afterwards, he retired to his ship.

Altaïr navigated through the ports and docked boats, arriving on Sibrand's ship and striking him down. Once again, the alert was sounded, though Altaïr managed to escape once more. After giving the Rafiq the feather marked with Sibrand's blood, Altaïr left for Masyaf as always.

In Damascus, Jubair al Hakim, Saladin's head scholar, had begun burning every book in the city in an attempt to wipe the history of the land. Traveling to the Bureau, Altaïr gathered the information, received his feather, and moved in for the kill.

Jubair stood flanked by many followers, all dressed in identical clothing; fortunately for Altaïr, however, his previous investigations had shown him where Jubair would be, and what he looked like. Before long, the scholar joined his Templar brothers in death, and Altaïr escaped the city guard to report his success to the Rafiq.

Returning to Masyaf, Altaïr had only one target remaining; the Grand Master of the Knights Templar himself. Altaïr discussed this with Al Mualim, where he explained that the Piece of Eden was essentially temptation given form. Al Mualim explained that Robert did seek peace like the Assassins, though through means of force by using the Apple. Altaïr concluded that Robert's death was the only way to end the Templar's quest for control.

Robert had apparently arrived in Jerusalem to attend the funeral of Majd Addin, in a show of mutual cooperation between and friendship between Saracen and Crusaders. Gathering intelligence for the strike, Altaïr presented this to Malik, who now realized Altaïr was a changed man and changed his attitude towards him. Arriving at the cemetery Altaïr, hid among the crowd, he was instead singled out and ambushed by the Templars, who had anticipated his arrival. Engaging the Templars and Saracen guard in battle, he fought them off one by one.

During this fray, Altaïr defeated Robert and removed the helm, however, to his horror, he discovered the person to be a decoy. At first believing it to be sorcery, the shock of seeing the woman standing before him soon wore off. He soon learned from her that Robert had used the time she had given him to travel to Arsuf, in the hopes of uniting the Saracens and Crusaders against the Assassins.

Sparing her life as she was not his target, Altaïr returned to the Bureau and revealed the deception to Malik, who had recently come to believe that Altaïr had truly repented for his past crimes. Malik suggested to Altaïr that it was best he return to Masyaf, and enlighten Al Mualim to the development, but Altaïr refused, citing time to be lacking.

He accused Malik of hiding behind the Creed, and refusing to see what he did not wish to see. Suggesting Malik search for answers in Solomon's Temple, Altaïr made his departure from the city and rode directly to Arsuf.

Arriving at Arsuf, Altaïr discovered that the engagement between the Crusader and Saracen forces had commenced. Fighting his way through the battlefield, engaging Saracen and Christian troops alike, Altaïr arrived at Richard's camp, only to be mistaken for making an attempt on the King's life.

Denying this, Altaïr informed the Crusader leader of Robert's treachery, as well as that of his followers. Though de Sable persistently denied the accusations, Richard was unconvinced.

Leaving the decision to God, Richard ordered a trial by combat to determine the truth. Altaïr fought de Sable and his Templar elites, cutting them down and striking the Grand Master in the throat.

With his dying breaths, Robert revealed to Altaïr that Al Mualim was, in fact, a Templar, and that Altaïr had been an unwitting pawn in his quest to hoard the Apple, and eliminate the others who knew of its existence. After this, Richard congratulated the Assassin on his success. As the two discussed their views on peace, Richard allowed Altaïr to leave Arsuf. Altaïr hurried to Masyaf to discover the truth about his master.

Arriving at Masyaf, Altaïr found the villagers in a hypnotized trance, who acknowledged Al Mualim as the one who had "led [them] to the light". Progressing up the hill towards Masyaf, Altaïr encountered a group of hypnotized Assassins who, bent as they were to Al Mualim's will, attacked him. Left with no other option, Altaïr engaged in battle with them, and managed to slay them all. However, another wave of Assassins entered the fray, heavily outnumbering and threatening to overwhelm him.

To his luck, Malik and several Assassins aided him by throwing knives at the Assassins, killing some and causing the rest to flee. Meeting with Malik, Altaïr requested him to distract the hypnotized Assassins outside of the fortress so that he could reach Al Mualim without much trouble. Agreeing to his request, Malik and his men left Altaïr to infiltrate the fortress.

Searching for his former Master in the fortress garden that Al Mualim referred to as "Paradise," Altaïr only found himself caught and bound by the Apple's power. Seeing Al Mualim on a balcony overhead, he demanded an explanation from him. Al Mualim then revealed that he had used the Apple recovered at Solomon's Temple to both end the Crusades by eliminating the leaders, and to control the minds of the people to attain their obedience; ensuring utter and absolute peace.

Ending his explanation, Al Mualim used the power of the Apple to create an illusion of the nine Templars Altaïr had killed, who attacked the confused Assassin. Defeating them one by one, Altaïr was once again bound by the Apple's power. By this point, Al Mualim confronted Altaïr personally, and created multiple copies of himself to aid in his fight. Faced with this second illusion, Altaïr took the defensive, striking them as they attacked one by one.

As Altaïr finally singled his Master out, Al Mualim bound him once again. There, he explained to Altaïr that though he sought peace like Robert, he wanted the Apple to himself, thus the Templar needed to die. Altaïr questioned why Al Mualim had not that used the Apple on him, and Al Mualim explained that he had tried and failed due to Altaïr's mental strength.

At this, Altaïr and Al Mualim dueled for a final time. Despite a lengthy battle, Altaïr managed to finally defeat his Master and down him with his hidden blade. Altaïr then listened as his Master spoke his final words, challenging Altaïr's strength of character and ability to destroy the Apple. As Al Mualim died, the Assassin watched as the Apple rolled from his lifeless hand, before activating itself.

Altaïr was eventually joined by Malik and his men and stood before the vast holographic image that projected from the orb: a map of the world indicating the location of various other Pieces of Eden.


	2. Chapter 2

Assassin's Creed 2

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the Animus 2.0 at Abstergo Industries Rome facility. In the year 1476, Ezio, his older brother Federico, and friends of the family fought with Vieri de' Pazzi and his gang. Just before the fight, Ezio received a gash down across his lip – caused by Vieri throwing a stone – which would scar, and remain for the rest of his life.

During the brawl, Ezio pummeled several members of the opposing gang, but Vieri managed to flee the scene before Ezio could do anything to him. After looting several people left unconscious by the fight, the two brothers ran across the rooftops to find Ezio some medical help for his injuries.

After the doctor tended to his wound, a church nearby caught the eye of the brothers, and Federico suggested a race. Ezio won, as he managed to reach the top quickest, and together the two looked out over the city. Despite Federico's disapproval, Ezio made his way to the home of Cristina Vespucci and spent the night with her.

Though caught by Cristina's father the morning after, Ezio fled from a group of pursuing guards before meeting with his father at the Palazzo Auditore. Giovanni scolded him, but later softened, admitting that his son's actions reminded him of his own youth. He then asked Ezio for his assistance in an errand later in the day.

Once Ezio had returned home, Ezio's little brother Petruccio asked him if he could collect eagle feathers from the rooftops, with the promise to return to bed afterwards, as he was ill. After a tiring search for feathers, Ezio returned them to his younger brother, though Petruccio was secretive about their purpose.

Later, Ezio found his sister Claudia in a distraught state, crying on a bench in their home after discovering her boyfriend, Duccio de Luca, had been unfaithful. After obtaining his whereabouts, Ezio tracked down and beat Duccio, before warning him to stay away from his sister.

Upon returning to the palazzo once more, Ezio's mother secured his services in picking up some paintings from a young artist that she patronized, Leonardo da Vinci. On the walk home, Leonardo struck up a conversation, beginning a friendship between the two young men that would last throughout their later finishing the errand for his mother, Ezio returned to Giovanni, who requested that he deliver two letters to contacts of his in the city, before retrieving a third letter from a pigeon coop not far from the agreed, and after two odd encounters with the people he'd delivered the letters to, Ezio retrieved the note from the pigeon coop only to witness guards running across Florence.

Ezio returned home to find his home ransacked, his father and brothers missing, and his mother and sister hiding. Learning that city guards had been ordered to arrest Giovanni and all of his sons, Ezio made his way to the Palazzo della Signoria, where his father and brothers were being held.

Climbing the building and speaking to his father through his cell window, Ezio was instructed to find a chest hidden in his office, take everything out of it, and deliver a sealed letter to Uberto Alberti, Gonfaloniere of Florence and a close friend of the Auditore family. Doing so, Ezio found his father's Assassin robes, a broken Hidden Blade, and a letter containing details of a plot against the city of Florence and the Auditore family.

Ezio brought the incriminating documents to Uberto, and was assured that his family would be released the following day, when the information was presented as evidence of their innocence. Ezio then traveled to the home of Cristina Vespucci, where he spent the night once again.

The next day, Ezio returned to the Piazza della Signoria to find Uberto presiding over the execution of his family.

Giovanni declared their innocence, citing the information given to Uberto as evidence, but the Gonfaloniere denied any knowledge of such information. Ezio shouted that Uberto was lying, but his efforts to prevent the execution were ultimately in vain.

Ezio could only watch helplessly from the crowd as his father and brothers were hanged. When he attempted to charge the gallows to avenge his kin, Uberto ordered the city guards to kill him.

At the urging of one of Giovanni's friends, a thief, Ezio fled the Piazza della Signoria and sought shelter in a brothel run by the sister of the Auditore housemaid, a courtesan named Paola.

Now the most wanted man in Florence, Ezio fled the city with his mother and sister in the hopes of making their way to Spain, stopping beforehand at the Auditore family's villa in Monteriggioni for shelter. As they neared the town, the three were accosted by Vieri de' Pazzi and his followers but were saved by the timely arrival of Ezio's uncle, Mario Auditore, and his mercenaries.

Mario informed Ezio of the existence of the Assassins, in an obvious attempt to induct him into the Order. He spent some time teaching Ezio swordplay and revealed that many of his ancestors, including Giovanni, were members of the Assassin Order.

However, Ezio refused his ancestry, wishing only to continue his journey to Spain for his mother's and sister's safety, with the help of the skills Mario had taught him.

Enraged, Mario left Monteriggioni for the city of San Gimignano, where Vieri had been located, in an attempt to relieve Monteriggioni of continual assaults by the Pazzi's minions. Guilt-ridden and knowing his presence was a primary reason for the ongoing attacks, Ezio traveled to San Gimignano to accept Mario's offer.

When Ezio arrived outside the city, he joined Mario and his mercenaries in their assault, and they waited until nightfall to storm the city. After witnessing a brief meeting between Rodrigo Borgia, Jacopo de' Pazzi, Francesco de' Pazzi and Vieri, Ezio made for his target.

While Mario and his mercenaries kept Vieri's men distracted, Ezio challenged and fought Vieri for the last time, eventually overpowering and killing him after a brief duel.

Ezio tried to extract a confession from his old enemy, though Vieri chose to be snide to the very end. Infuriated by this, Ezio flew into a rage and insulted Vieri's corpse, continuing until his uncle calmed him down and reminded him of a tradition of the Assassins: showing respect to those they have killed.

Following Vieri's death, Ezio returned to Florence in 1478 to gather information on a conspiracy against the Medici, who had been family friends to the Auditore. However, Ezio chose to visit Cristina first, who was quite surprised to see him. She also admitted that she was to be married, as she thought she would never see Ezio again.

Suddenly a woman screamed from outside that a man named Manfredo was in trouble with several gamblers. Ezio asked who Manfredo was, and Cristina confessed that he was her fiancé. Ezio ran off and found Manfredo in a fight with several gamblers he was indebted to.

After defeating the gamblers, Ezio, enraged by Manfredo's actions, demanded that Manfredo be a good husband to Cristina or he would kill him. Ezio then met Cristina in an alleyway afterwards and kissed her, promising that he had made sure her husband would be good to her.

Ezio later had Leonardo construct him a second Hidden Blade, and with information provided by Leonardo, Ezio was able to find La Volpe, who aided him in discovering the Templar conspiracy against the Medici. La Volpe directed Ezio to an underground catacomb where a Templar meeting was being held.

Ezio was subsequently able to eavesdrop on the meeting, discovering that the Pazzi planned to kill the Medici at the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore and place their own people in government under the orders of their master, Rodrigo Borgia.

The next day, Ezio arrived at the Duomo to try and prevent the public assassination, but he was unsuccessful. Francesco de' Pazzi and Bernardo Baroncelliwere able to kill Giuliano de' Medici and injure Lorenzo.

Ezio came to Lorenzo's aid and fended off Francesco. However, the Pazzi had already succeeded in their plan, and brought the city into a state of civil war. After escorting Lorenzo to the safety of his palazzo, Ezio revealed his identity, prompting Lorenzo to remark that he knew Ezio's father.

Lorenzo's lieutenant, Poliziano, told Ezio that Francesco had been sighted at the Piazza della Signoria. As Pazzi and Medici troops battled in the streets below them, Ezio chased down and slew Francesco, although Jacopo de' Pazzi and several other conspirators were able to escape the city.

Shortly afterward, Ezio met up with Lorenzo at the Ponte Vecchio. Lorenzo reminisced that as a child he had fallen into the Arno and would have drowned, had he not been saved by Giovanni Auditore. This act of kindness kindled a close friendship between the Auditore and the Medici families.

When Ezio asked of the conspirators, Lorenzo explained that they had fled the city. With this, the Medici publicly cleared the name of the Auditore family, and provided Ezio with the names of the conspirators who had escaped.

Learning that the Pazzi conspirators had fled to San Gimignano, after gaining information from Mario, Ezio tracked down and killed Antonio Maffei, Stefano da Bagnone, Bernardo Baroncelli and Francesco Salviati, extracting from each man information on Jacopo de' Pazzi's whereabouts.

Using the information, Ezio located his quarry and tracked Jacopo to an ancient Roman theater. Once there, Ezio eavesdropped on a meeting between Jacopo, Rodrigo Borgia and a Venetian merchant and Templar, Emilio Barbarigo.

After fatally wounding Jacopo for his failure to capture Florence, Rodrigo revealed that he was aware of Ezio's presence. While Rodrigo and Emilio fled, Ezio was apprehended by Templar guards, but he overpowered and killed them before swiftly putting the dying Jacopo out of his misery.

With the Pazzi conspiracy ended, Ezio returned to Lorenzo in 1480 and declared his success. Before leaving the city for Venice, Ezio was granted a gift; the Medici cape, that would keep the city guards' attention from him.

Ezio then made his way to Leonardo's workshop, only to find that the artist had just left for Venice himself. Meeting with Leonardo in the Apennine Mountains and helping him repair his carriage, Ezio caught his first glimpse of Leonardo's Flying Machine.

Accompanying him to the city of Forlì, Ezio narrowly avoided the attacking Templar horsemen and archers Rodrigo Borgia had sent after them. Drawing closer to their destination, Ezio left Leonardo to proceed on his own, while he took care off the remaining Templars. Ezio made his way into the region of Romagna, and met Leonardo just outside the city of Forlì.

Eventually the two made their way to the city docks, where Ezio was refused permission to board, as he lacked a pass. Behind them, the two heard the screams of a noble lady stranded in the city's wetlands. Ezio hastened to her rescue in a boat, and was able to row the woman back to shore. The lady introduced herself as Caterina Sforza, and coerced the dockman into granting Ezio passage to Venice as a sign of thanks.

Once in Venice, Ezio and Leonardo were given a brief tour of the city by Alvise da Vilandino, before Ezio began to seek a way into the Palazzo della Seta of Emilio Barbarigo, although this effort initially proved to be in vain.

Suddenly pushed aside, Ezio watched as a gang of thieves attempted and failed to breach the Palazzo, leading Ezio to aid the thief Rosa, who had been shot through the leg with an arrow.

After successfully escaping the city guards, Ezio was introduced to the leader of the Venetian Thieves' Guild,Antonio de Magianis, and together they concocted a new plot to kill Emilio Barbarigo and liberate the merchant district.

The plot, perfected over four years, was successful and gave Ezio the name of another Templar conspirator – Carlo Grimaldi. A government official and member of the Council of Ten, Carlo was close to Giovanni Mocenigo, the Doge of Venice, and hoped to turn him to the Templar cause.

Overhearing another meeting between Rodrigo and Carlo, Ezio uncovered a plot to poison the Doge and replace him with Marco Barbarigo. Realizing the urgency, Ezio and Antonio sought a way into the Palazzo Ducale, examining the front gates, the rear walls and even passing over the Basilica di San Marco; but they were hampered at every turn.

As they returned to the piazza below, an enraged Antonio remarked that only birds could get into the Doge's palace, reminding Ezio of Leonardo's flying machine, which he had seen on the way to Forlì. After a somewhat unsuccessful test flight, Leonardo came up with a way to ensure that Ezio reached his destination.

After removing the city guards at four separate locations, Antonio's thieves proceeded to light massive bonfires throughout the city, giving Leonardo's flying machine enough lift for Ezio to make it to the Palazzo Ducale. The plan worked, and Ezio breached the Palazzo Ducale, although too late to save the Doge.

Carlo quickly fled the scene, crying out that Ezio had assassinated the Doge, only to meet his own end at Ezio's hands moments later. However, Ezio was now the most wanted man in Venice, and was forced to flee the city guards.

Returning to Leonardo's workshop for help in 1486, Ezio was directed to Sister Teodora's brothel, where Antonio was hiding. Under the cover of Carnevale, Ezio made his way to the brothel and began planning the death of Marco Barbarigo, competing in the four games of the Carnevale to win the Golden Mask that would gain him entrance to Marco's private party.

Ezio was successful, but found that Marco's cousin, Silvio Barbarigo, and Marco's personal slave-bodyguard, Dante Moro, had intimidated and bribed the judges into denying him his prize.

However, Ezio was successful in stealing the mask from Dante and managed to infiltrate the Doge's personal party and assassinate Marco with an ingenious new weapon. This left the way open for Agostino, a Barbarigo not involved with the Templars, and an ally of Antonio's, to legitimately become Doge.

With his quest for the nine nearly at an end, Ezio tracked down Silvio Barbarigo and Dante Moro, who had occupied the Venetian Arsenal with an army of mercenaries.

Needing a force of his own, Ezio was directed to the mercenary leader, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, only to find Silvio's thugs had attacked Bartolomeo's headquarters, capturing him and a number of his soldiers in the process.

Ezio swiftly liberated Bartolomeo and his soldiers, and once Bartolomeo learned of Ezio's purpose, he was more than willing to assist in Silvio's destruction.

Having tracked the Templars down to the Arsenal, Ezio managed to storm the building with the help of Bartolomeo and his men, and kill Dante Moro and Silvio Barbarigo in the ensuing battle.

However, he was astonished to learn that the plot to remove the Doge was merely a distraction, so that the Templars could move their vessel to Cyprus, although the reasons for this would remain unknown to Ezio for some more years passed before word of the Templar vessel reached Ezio once again on his twenty-ninth birthday when Rosa brought him a shipping manifest detailing the return of the ship that very day. Leonardo approached Ezio, explaining that he had discovered that all the Codex pages put together a message, saying "The Prophet will appear when the second piece is brought to the floating city." Ezio recalled the prophecy his uncle recited to him, about the prophet being able to open the fabled Vault that is said to contain a great power. He then realized that the entire Templar conspiracy was just a distraction for Rodrigo Borgia to find the into the Arsenal, Ezio watched as a Templar guard carrying a Piece of Eden disembarked from the ship, and made his way to a Templar base in the city.

Ezio assassinated the guard, impersonating him and carrying the Piece of Eden to a meeting with Rodrigo Borgia himself. Finally able to confront the man ultimately responsible for the deaths of his father and brothers, Ezio criticized the Templar Grand Master for the non-appearance of the supposed "prophet".

Rodrigo responded, proudly naming himself the prophet before engaging Ezio in battle. The duel was short, and Ezio easily bested the Templar. Rodrigo called upon the city guards and taunted the Assassin, saying that "his people" had failed to show up.

At that very moment, Mario Auditore, along with Antonio, Paola, Teodora, La Volpe and Bartolomeo appeared, driving off Rodrigo and revealing themselves to Ezio as Assassins.

With the arrival of Niccolò Machiavelli, it was revealed to Ezio that he was in fact the Prophet, and that all present had worked together the past decade to induct Ezio into the Assassin Order.

That night, they all met again and Ezio was formally inducted into the Order. He received a brand on his left hand's ring finger, and performed the ceremonial Leap of Faith.

Shortly after his induction, Ezio met with Mario and Niccolò, and traveled to Leonardo da Vinci's workshop in Venice, hoping that the artist could shed some light upon the strange artifact Rodrigo had dubbed "the Apple".

In Acre. During the memory, Altaïr makes love to Maria Thorpe, an ex-Templar, and to find that after Altaïr leaves, the memory stays behind with Maria.

Leonardo examined the unique device, commenting that the metal it was made of should not exist, and that its design was highly advanced despite its age.

Upon briefly touching the Apple, Ezio accidentally activated the device, which started to glow and show strange holographic images, though he quickly deactivated it. Niccolò later announced that he had arranged for the Piece of Eden to be held in the Rocca di Ravaldino, where it would be protected by an ally of the Assassins, Caterina Sforza.

Niccolò and Ezio met with Caterina in Romagna, just outside the city of Forlì. After briefly discussing the Apple, the three made their way back to the city, only to find that it had been invaded by the Orsi brothers, Checco and Ludovico.

As the group fought its way to the city's locked gates, Ezio managed to find another way inside and open the gates from within, allowing them to continue their way to the Citadel.

Reaching the Rocca di Ravaldino, they found out that two of Caterina's children, Ottaviano and Bianca, were in the hands of the Orsi brothers, who had recently arrived and were attacking the Citadel. Ezio repelled the attack, and left the Apple in Caterina's hands, before going to rescue her two children.

Making his way into Romagna, Ezio overpowered the guard detail assigned to imprison Bianca, who directed Ezio to her brother Ottaviano. As Bianca fled back to the city, Ezio made his way to the lighthouse upon which Ottaviano was being held by Ludovico himself. Climbing the tower, Ezio dispatched Ludovico and freed Ottaviano, though not before learning that the kidnapping was a distraction, which had allowed Checco to steal the Apple.

Ezio swiftly tracked down and killed Checco and his remaining men. As he bent to retrieve the Apple, Ezio failed to notice Checco stabbing him in the abdomen before it was too late. Injured, Ezio collapsed to the ground, with the Apple rolling from his hand. Before losing consciousness, Ezio saw a monk with a missing finger pick up the Apple and walk away, despite Ezio's pleads to not open the satchel holding the Piece of Eden.

Caterina's guards later found Ezio next to Checco's corpse and returned him to Forlì, where Caterina nursed him back to health. Returned to his senses, Ezio hurriedly explained to Caterina that a man in black had stolen the Apple.

She recognized him to be dressed similarly to the monks residing outside the city walls, and Ezio left to search the church. Though there was no sign of the monk, Ezio met with Brother O'Callahan, who told him to continue his search at San Vincenzo, in central Forlì.

An abbot there identified Ezio as the monk Stefano da Bagnone's killer, and fled. He was intercepted and, once convinced that he was not about to die, the monk gave Ezio the name of the nine fingered monk: Girolamo Savonarola.

Having returned from Spain, Ezio immediately continued his quest to find the Apple of Eden. He returned to his hometown of Florence in 1492, and bumped into a monk who was running from Borgia guards, saying they were asking about "apples".  
Ezio, realizing the Borgia knew that Savonarola had the Apple, rushed to the Santa Maria del Fiore where he found a monk called Savonarola being harassed by Borgia guards.

After watching the scene for a while, Ezio jumped down from atop the church and rescued Savonarola. Only then did Ezio realize that the monk had all ten fingers, and he introduced himself as Marcello Savonarola; Girolamo's cousin. Marcello, in gratitude to Ezio, revealed that his cousin was in Venice at the time, and Ezio set off once again.

Ezio was greeted by Teodora in Venice, and asked her where he could find the fire-and-brimstone-preaching monk. She replied that she did not know where Savonarola was, but did know where to find a herald who preached similar things. Additionally, she revealed that Lorenzo de' Medici had died, and that Rodrigo Borgia had become the Pope, under the name Alexander VI.

Teodora led Ezio to the square where the herald was preaching, and Ezio blended in with the crowd. Convincing the herald that he was a true believer, and asking him about Savonarola's location, Ezio concluded that the herald was completely blinded by faith.

Eventually, a young man screamed at the preacher, saying that he had just escaped from Florence, which was taken over by Savonarola. He explained that the Signoria were either behind Savonarola, or powerless against him, and that people like Botticelli were joining him in starting bonfires to burn writings and arts related to the Renaissance.

The young man revealed himself to be Piero de' Medici, son of the late Lorenzo. Ezio walked up to him, saying that he was a friend of his father. After the herald ordered their deaths, Ezio revealed his name to Piero, and the two men faced off against their attackers.

The herald himself pulled out a dagger and charged at Ezio, but Piero saved him by slicing the herald's legs, after which Ezio finished the enemy off. While Piero went to warn Agostino Barbarigo of Savonarola's preachings, Ezio left Venice.

Ezio returned to Florence in 1497, and made his way to the Oltrarno District, hearing stories about Savonarola's dictatorship, and the desire for the Assassin's return. Eventually, he met with Niccolò Machiavelli on a bridge, and the two made their way to Savonarola's residence, the Palazzo Pitti.

Ezio devised a plan to overthrow Savonarola's rule: he would kill the men who suppressed the people in Savonarola's name, while Niccolò, Paola and La Volpe would rally the citizens to stand up to Savonarola's rule. Ezio then set off to finish off each of Savonarola's nine lieutenants.

Ezio ran into Manfredo Soderini again, as he found him barely alive after being attacked by Savonarola's men. Ezio hurriedly asked where Cristina was, and Manfredo replied that the men had chased after her.

Ezio successfully managed to kill Cristina's attackers, but she had already been heavily wounded. She admitted to Ezio that she would have liked for them to have had a second chance, before she died in his arms.

Soon after Ezio killed Savonarola's followers, the rioters formed an angry mob and stormed the Palazzo Pitti, demanding an end to the bonfires. Savanarola tried to use the Apple to quell the riot, but before he could, Ezio threw a knife at him, knocking the Apple out of his hand.

In the ensuing chaos, the Apple was picked up by a guard in service to the Borgia, who had also been trying to recover the Apple from Savonarola. Ezio followed him, killed him, and recovered the Apple. Savonarola was then sentenced to be executed in the same way he had dealt with the city's knowledge: burned at the stake on the Piazza della Signoria.

However, Ezio decided that no one should have to die in such agony. The Assassin leapt onto the execution platform and put Savonarola out of his misery.

Ezio then looked at the stunned mob and delivered a speech, urging them to follow their own path and rely on their own thoughts, not what they were told by the ones in power. Ezio then left with Mario, Niccolò, Paola and La Volpe, ready to uncover the answers hidden within the Apple.

The following year saw the Assassins come together once more at the Villa Auditore, with the Piece of Eden and the completed Codex in hand. Using the two objects, they discovered the location of the Vault to be in Rome - specifically, beneath the Vatican.  
Unfortunately, Rodrigo Borgia had become the Pope in 1492, although Mario believed he had only done so to gain access to the Papal Staff, another Piece of Eden. Undeterred, Ezio went to assassinate Rodrigo.

Fighting his way along the entire length of the Passetto di Borgo, Ezio snuck into the Cappella Sistina and struck at Rodrigo from above.

As he was about to deal the killing blow, Rodrigo surprised Ezio by using the Staff of Eden to blast him away, and drain the energy of those in the room. Since Ezio held the Apple, he was immune to the Staff's effects, and the two engaged in a duel.

Ezio created multiple illusional copies of himself with the Apple. For a while, it seemed that Ezio had bested Rodrigo, but the Popeovercame him. Rodrigo then took the Apple and stabbed Ezio in the abdomen, leaving him to die before fleeing towards the Vault.

However Ezio soon regained consciousness and, following his nemesis to the outside of the Vault, Ezio watched as Rodrigo tried in vain to open it. Laying down his arms, Ezio challenged and defeated Rodrigo in a final brawl, obtaining possession of both the Apple and the Staff. However, he refused to take Rodrigo's life, having realized the futility of revenge.

Entering the Vault, Ezio stood in shock as he was confronted by a hologram of an individual naming herself Minerva, and claiming to be one of "Those Who Came Before".

Ezio was further confounded when the hologram spoke to an unseen figure named Desmond and started showing holograms of an event that would befall the world hundreds of years from then. Minerva then disappeared abruptly, leaving Ezio with many unanswered questions.


	3. Chapter 3

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the Animus 2.01 at Abstergo Industries Rome facility. Ezio left the Vault and met up with Mario. Together, they fought their way out of Basilica di San Pietro, and climbed a tower, where Ezio prepared to drop the Apple of Eden into the Tiber. However, upon realizing his insecurity, Mario took the Apple and promised to keep it safe until Ezio could make a decision. The two then proceeded to return home to Monteriggioni.

During the journey with his uncle, Ezio told Mario what he had learned from Minerva, but also found solace in the fact that his own battles were finally at an end. That evening, Ezio once again retold the events of his encounter in the Vault, this time to Niccolò, his sister, and mother.

Niccolò in turn criticized Ezio for his failure to kill Rodrigo Borgia, and angrily left for Rome. That night, unconcerned with Niccolò's outburst, Ezio returned to his bedchamber to share an intimate night with Caterina Sforza. He soon learned that the Borgia threat was far from over.

On 2 January 1500, Cesare Borgia, the son of Rodrigo, Commander of the Papal armies, and a high-ranking Templar in his own right, laid siege to Monteriggioni.

Taking the Assassins by surprise, Cesare's forces were quickly able to level half the city before Ezio managed to reach the cannons above the ramparts. He and the Monteriggioni mercenaries returned fire, destroying many of Cesare's own siege weapons.

Despite knowing this to be a futile effort, they managed to stave off the attackers long enough for the citizens to reach safety. However, as Cesare's forces managed to breach the city gates, Cesare brought a mortally wounded Mario Auditore and captured Caterina Sforza before him.

Seeing his uncle lying on the ground, Ezio ran across the rooftops in a vain effort to reach them but was shot by arquebusiers upon the city walls. At the same time, Cesare "invited" Ezio to come to Rome with a shot of his own firearm, killing Mario.

Ezio, having soon regained consciousness as two of Mario's mercenaries dragged him to safety, continued to partake in the battle, which had spilled into what was left of the city

to the Sanctuary, Ezio and the fleeing civilians fled through a secret passageway that had been hidden behind the statue of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

After ensuring his mother and sister were safe, Ezio began to make his way for Rome. During this journey, however, Ezio passed out and fell from his horse due to the severity of his wounds.

Ezio eventually awoke to find his wound being treated by a stranger, Margherita dei Campi, who told him that he had simply been dropped off at her home by a man who wished for Ezio to meet Niccolò de Machiavelli at the Mausoleo di Augusto.

The man who had brought him there had also supplied him with a new set of Assassin robes. After leaving the house, Ezio retrieved some medicine from a local doctor and searched for Niccolò in front of the Mauseleo.

Ezio's attention was soon caught, however, by the discussion of a group of guards who were set on injuring an innocent civilian for "causing the Borgia guards trouble". Following the guards and aiding the distressed civilian, whose wife had recently been executed by a Borgia ally known as Il Carnefice, Ezio got his first taste of life in Rome.

Making his way up to Il Carnefice's abode, Ezio assassinated him and continued on his way to meet with Niccolò. From him, Ezio discovered that Rome had fallen into a state of disrepair under the Borgia and that its citizens were being heavily oppressed. Niccolò also told him of Cesare Borgia, the man responsible for the death of Mario Auditore.

Together, Ezio and Niccolò met with Fabio Orsini, the cousin of Bartolomeo d'Alviano who had been forced into serving Cesare Borgia. Fabio lent to the Assassins an old storehouse of his on Tiber Island, in the hope that they would find a better use for it.

From here, Ezio traveled to the Rosa in Fiore in an attempt to gather the support of the city's courtesans. When he arrived, however, he learned that Madonna Solari, the head of the brothel, had been kidnapped by the Cento Occhi, Cesare's hired thugs, and was being held for ransom.

Gathering the funds necessary, Ezio made his way to the kidnappers' location, only to be double-crossed. Madonna Solari was killed, and the Cento Occhi attacked Ezio. Ezio survived the ambush and returned to the Rosa in Fiore to discover his mother and sister there. With no one to lead them, the courtesans turned to Claudia Auditore to act as their Madam, with a very reluctant Ezio agreeing to her appointment.

Ezio then moved on to gather the support of both La Volpe's Roman thieves, who were suffering at the hands of the Cento Occhi, and Bartolomeo's mercenaries, who were under attack by the French.

In 1500, while passing the Campidoglio, Ezio noticed a scholar by the name of Nicolaus Copernicus giving a strange speech to the Roman citizens. After having asked another spectator about the man's identity, he learned that the man came from the Vatican, though spoke contrary to the Church's teachings.

However, Ezio soon saw a battalion of Borgia guards attack Copernicus, and swiftly stepped in to defend him. Afterwards, the two men introduced themselves to one another, with Copernicus admitting to having been a Templar himself until he disagreed with the other Templars on keeping the findings of his scientific experiments hidden from the public.

Upon hearing that more Borgia guards were looking for Copernicus, they quickly left the Campidoglio and went looking for a hideout. Evading the Borgia guards, Ezio found shelter for Copernicus in a small house in the Antico District, next to the Colosseum.

Once they were safe, Copernicus realized that his fellow scholars would be in danger as well, and asked Ezio to deliver a letter of warning to each of them. Despite being insecure on whether to trust Copernicus or not, Ezio agreed to deliver the letters.

Ezio traveled across the Centro District, handing letters to several scholars, and managing to reach most of them in time. He returned to Copernicus in the countryside, who told him that the Master of the Sacred Palace, a priest appointed by the Pope to ensure that Roman religious philosophy remained pure, was most likely the person responsible for the attacks.

Ezio followed a cardinal roaming nearby, who eventually led him to the Master. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Ezio found out that the Master had sent his best men to kill the scholars whom Ezio had delivered the letters to, and he quickly rushed to save them. Ezio successfully managed to assassinate all of the hired men and returned to Copernicus.

He informed Copernicus that his suspicions were correct, and warned him of his own safety, but Copernicus forewent caution, as he wanted to chronicle an eclipse that night. Ezio set off once again, with the intention of killing the Master.

Ezio found the Master and killed him with his Hidden Blade, and with his dying breath, the Master revealed that he had already sent his best man to kill Copernicus. Ezio quickly set off to where Copernicus would research the eclipse, and arrived just in time to kill the assassin.

As they looked up at the eclipse together, Copernicus revealed to Ezio that the sun was most likely the midpoint of the universe, contrary to common belief that it was the Earth. Copernicus thanked Ezio for his aid, and they went their separate ways.

After receiving intelligence reports from Claudia, La Volpe and Bartolomeo indicating that Caterina Sforza was being held in the Castel Sant'Angelo, Ezio departed to rescue her, though not before Niccolò demanded that, given the chance, he prioritize killing Cesare and the stronghold in 1501, Ezio scaled the fortress' double walls and apprehended Lucrezia Borgia, who was holding the keys to Caterina's cell. From there Ezio and Caterina escaped, making sure that they remained undetected until they reached the stables.

They fled across the Ponte Sant'Angelo, and Ezio ordered Caterina to ride on as he dealt with the pursuing guards. Only a timely explosion from within the Castel prevented him from being overwhelmed.

Returning to his base of operations, Ezio decided that in order to free Rome from its Borgia oppression, he needed to involve those who were being oppressed. Despite Niccolò's protests, the two agreed to begin recruiting citizens of Rome into Ezio's new Brotherhood, so that the liberation of Rome could begin.

Within a year, Ezio had turned a number of Rome's citizens into Assassin apprentices and had adopted several existing members of the Order into his guild, such as Francesco Vecellio, whose former master had betrayed the Order.

The apprentices fought and trained alongside Ezio, and undertook missions to aid their fellow Assassins in cities across Europe and beyond, including Calicut, India. Ezio also had his apprentices aid him in removing a number of Templar agents, such as Malfatto and Silvestro Sabbatini.

Eventually, Ezio received a surprise visit from his old friend Leonardo da Vinci, who informed him that he had been pressed into providing the Borgia with various forms of advanced weaponry and War Machines. Leonardo promised to provide Ezio with the tools necessary to destroy his weapons, albeit at a small monetary cost. Ezio agreed and managed to demolish all of Leonardo's machines in his war against the Borgia.

Ezio met with Niccolò, La Volpe, Claudia, and Caterina in the Assassin hideout, where they discussed their plans to attack the Borgia. Ezio asked them for the source of Cesare's funds, to which La Volpe replied that Cesare had his own personal banker, whose identity was unknown, as he was only referred to as "the Banker".

Additionally, Ezio revealed that he intended to kill the French general, Octavian de Valois so that Cesare would lose the protection of his foreign allies. La Volpe also remarked that there was a side entrance into the Castel Sant'Angelo that Ezio could use, and that Lucrezia's lover Pietro Rossi had a key to enter it.

Upon leaving the hideout, Ezio noticed Caterina about to leave on horseback; she said that she was of no good to anyone without Forlì in her possession and that she wanted to be with her children in Florence. Despite Ezio's request for her to stay, Caterina left Rome.

Ezio met Claudia in the Rosa in Fiore, and she told him that senator Egidio Troche frequently came into the brothel to complain about his debts to the Banker and that he could be found at the Campidoglio. Hearing several men on the Campidoglio talking about Egidio making failed attempts to get finances, Ezio eventually found him under attack of Borgia guards and rescued him.

Together, they went through the district looking for a safe place for Egidio to hide out in. Finally, Egidio found shelter in the home of his brother Francesco, who was angry at Egidio for warning the ambassador of Venice of Cesare's plans for Romagna.

Egidio was willing to aid Ezio, telling him that the Borgia guards usually led him to the Banker and that he needed money to meet with them. Ezio brought him the required amount of florins, and Egidio met with the guards, while Ezio followed them from above.

Eventually, they arrived at the Pantheon, where the money was given to the Borgia captain Luigi Torcelli. Ezio infiltrated the Pantheon via the roof and killed Luigi, taking his clothes and impersonating him. Together with two Borgia guards, Ezio was able to carry the money to the right location - a feast Cesare was throwing in celebration of his conquests - and passed the chest of money on to the next guard.

Ezio was given entry to the party, but the guards soon found out that Luigi had been killed in the Pantheon, and they went out looking for Ezio. However, with the aid of Claudia's courtesans, he was able to remain undetected while following the chest carrier to the party.

Once there, Ezio overheard the Banker introduce himself as Juan Borgia to a courtesan. Ezio followed them both to where Cesare was giving a speech. Ezio avoided the patrolling guards and took a seat on a bench, killing Juan Borgia as he passed him.

Ezio escaped and returned to the Rosa in Fiore, where a group of courtesans who had stolen the chest of money cried out that the Borgia guards had followed them to the brothel, and that they had gone after Claudia and Maria. Ezio rushed inside, only to find out that Claudia had already killed all the Borgia guards by herself using a knife.

Following the Banker's death, Ezio traveled to Bartolomeo d'Alviano's barracks, where he soon discovered that Bartolomeo's wife, Pantasilea Baglioni, had been kidnapped by the Baron de Valois, commander of Cesare's French allies in Rome. Despite putting up a valiant defense of his barracks, Bartolomeo saw no feasible way that he could secure his wife's safety short of surrendering; Ezio however, had another idea.

After Ezio eliminated a large number of French soldiers, Bartolomeo's mercenaries wore their armor and took on the guise of a French patrol escorting a defeated Bartolomeo to the Castra Praetoria, the base of operations for the Baron de Valois' forces.

Infiltrating the fortress, Bartolomeo and Ezio came face to face with the Baron, who very nearly killed Pantasilea, had not Ezio interrupted him with a shot from his Hidden Gun. Battle soon broke out, and with Bartolomeo's mercenaries engaging the French forces, Ezio was free to pursue the Baron and Pantasilea, eventually freeing her and killing him.

Not long after his victory over the Baron de Valois, Ezio traveled once more to La Volpe Addormentata, where he and La Volpe discussed the latter's suspicion that Niccolò had betrayed the Assassins by guiding the Papal Army to Monteriggioni, and by informing Rodrigo and Cesare to stay away from the Castel during Ezio's infiltration. Ezio disagreed, but promised to look into the presence of a traitor.

La Volpe informed Ezio that Pietro Rossi, an actor, and Lucrezia Borgia's lover, had the key to the Castel and that Cesare intended to kill Pietro over his feelings for Lucrezia. Locating Cesare at one of the city gates, Ezio witnessed the assassination of Francesco Troche, brother of Egidio, by Cesare's personal assassinMicheletto Corella.

Ezio then tailed Micheletto, who was to infiltrate the play that Pietro would appear in, and kill him. As he followed him, Ezio had his apprentices discreetly replace the guards Micheletto tasked with partaking in the murder.

Eventually, Micheletto arrived at the site of the play, the Colosseum. Climbing up the outside of the structure, Ezio made his way down from the roof to the backstage area below, picking off Micheletto's marksmen as he went. Ezio soon struck Micheletto but spared his life when he learned that Pietro had been poisoned previously, as a means of insurance.

Ezio hurried from the Colosseum with Pietro in his arms, while his apprentices covered the retreat. After handing Pietro over to a doctor and receiving the key to the Castel from him, Ezio spotted Paganino, a member of the Venetian thieves guild who had been present at the siege of Monteriggioni.

When approached, Paganino ran and Ezio gave chase. Ezio quickly caught him and reasoned that he was, in fact, the traitor, not Niccolò. Paganino pressed Ezio's Hidden Blade into his own throat to kill himself rather than risk further revelations. Ezio raced back to Tiber Island to stop La Volpe from killing Niccolò.

Later meeting with La Volpe inside the Tiber Island hideout, Ezio ordered him to gather the Assassins, and bring Claudia as well. They gathered in the ceremony hall, and there Ezio offered Claudia a chance to join the Order, just as the others of their family had. She agreed and was inducted into the Order.

At the time, Niccolò also decided to step down from leading the Order, and to promote Ezio to the position of Mentor, realizing that Ezio was both a better leader and "exactly what the Order needed". Ezio, in turn, appointed Niccolò as his trusted adviser, who then recommended he finish what he started. Ezio consented and left for the Castel Sant'Angelo.

With Cesare's supporters in Rome dead, the Brotherhood and its allies were in command of the city. Ezio was informed that Cesare had returned to Rome, and was meeting with his father in the Castel Sant'Angelo. Once again infiltrating the Castel, Ezio witnessed Rodrigo's attempt to poison his son, only to be murdered in retaliation.

As Cesare hurried off to obtain the Apple of Eden that his father had hidden away, Ezio entered the Castel and gave Rodrigo's body his blessing. He then learned from Lucrezia where Rodrigo had hidden the Apple and raced out of the fortress.

Ezio arrived at the Basilica di San Pietro, and took possession of the Apple before Cesare, with just moments to spare. Cesare arrived with a sizable contingent of Papal soldiers, though Ezio managed to escape them. Over the next few months, and with the help of his fellow Assassins, Ezio used the Apple to completely destroy what little support Cesare still had in Rome.

Eventually, the Assassins caught up with Cesare himself, who was awaiting reinforcements from Micheletto and his army by the gates of Rome. Cesare's forces were defeated, although their leader had retreated behind the city of portcullis. However, he soon realized that he was not safe as he was quickly arrested by Fabio Orsini on the orders of Pope Julius II. As he was dragged away, Cesare screamed that chains would not hold him and that no man could murder him.

Despite their victory, Ezio was troubled by Cesare's comments, and upon meeting with Leonardo, he confessed his concerns. At Leonardo's suggestion, Ezio decided to look into the Apple to see if Cesare's threats were true.

Upon doing so, Ezio quickly lets go of the Apple, standing before Leonardo could question him and comment that he had to leave immediately. Before he departed, however, Ezio left Leonardo a parting gift: a chest full of gold, in compensation for losing his patron.

In 1507, Ezio finally located Cesare Borgia, who was leading the forces of his brother-in-law, John III of Navarre, in a siege of the city of Viana.

Ezio engaged Cesare on the battlefield, initially making an unsuccessful attempt to kill him with his Hidden Blade. Cesare made his escape towards Viana Castle, and Ezio was almost overwhelmed by Cesare's guards. Narrowly surviving an artillery strike, Ezio chased after Cesare and followed him through the village.

Fighting past the battling guards, and climbing two burning siege towers, Ezio eventually reached the ramparts of Viana Castle. He made his way through another small group of guards and engaged Cesare in combat atop the city walls.

Despite a continual stream of soldiers attacking him, Ezio was able to whittle away Cesare's armor and overpower him. When Cesare angrily repeated his claim that no man could kill him, Ezio coldly replied he would leave him in the hands of Fate, and threw Cesare from the city walls to his death.

I recovered the Apple of Eden from the Colosseum Vault. I killed Lucy Stillman at the Colosseum Vault. Project Siren had been cancelled. I destroyed the body of Lucy Stillman.

With the Apple safely hidden away, Ezio met with Leonardo in 1506 to discuss his need of chartering a ship to Navarre. Leonardo interjected that he knew the name of a friendly ship captain, but was unable to remember it at the time. As the artist searched for his records, Ezio and Leonardo briefly discussed the ancient Greek scholar Pythagoras, whom Leonardo was research.

However, Ezio suggested he instead focus on his painting, and complimented a portrait of a smiling lady Leonardo was working on. Eventually, though he could not find the captain's name, Leonardo offered to accompany Ezio to the docks, though he was unable to leave the studio unaccompanied. As such, Ezio offered to bring back Leonardo's apprentice, Salaì.

Ezio found Salaì in La Volpe Addormentata, enjoying a game of dice. Despite some initial resistance, Salaì eventually agreed to return to his Master's workshop with Ezio, much to the chagrin of three cloaked individuals who had been playing against Salaì.

Once outside, the three individuals and several of their comrades, who were all revealed to be Hermeticists, attacked Ezio and Salaì. The two manage to defeat them, and Salaì remarked that only one individual could fight with such skill, correctly guessing Ezio's name. Ezio simply suggested that they continue on to Leonardo's workshop.

Avoiding the throngs of Hermeticists between them and their destination, Ezio and Salaì returned to find the workshop wrecked and Leonardo missing. Salaì regretfully informed Ezio that he did not know the location of theTemple of Pythagoras, which was likely where Leonardo had been taken.

Looking down to the floor in sadness, Salaì spotted some writing on the floor, which suggested that Leonardo's artwork that had hung in the Villa Auditore had held clues to the location of the temple. At first, Ezio was dismissive, commenting that all the paintings had been destroyed in the attack, though Salaì quickly responded that only two had been destroyed, and one had been sold (by Salaì himself to buy a "now out of fashion" doublet), leaving five more to find. These five, he said, we're currently in the hands of Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara.

Ezio made his way to Delizia di Belriguardo, climbing over the palazzo's outer walls and overhearing a paranoid Lucrezia ordering the guards on high alert. Infiltrating the palazzo through the attached stables, Ezio confronted Lucrezia on the stolen paintings, clarifying that he had not come to take her, Lucrezia revealed that she only had one of the paintings left, as the rest had been taken after the fall of her family. Ordering her men to place the Annunciation painting in a cart outside the palazzo's walls, Lucrezia was then thrust against the wall by Ezio, who began to kiss her neck intimately.

At this, Lucrezia told Ezio that three of the paintings had been sold to Francesco Colonna, while the fifth went to an old flame of Lucrezia's named Patrizio. Ezio apologized to Lucrezia and then pulled back, revealing that he had tied her to the hanging drape. Lucrezia angrily called for her husband's personal guard, who pursued Ezio through the palazzo until he escaped out of a window, and into a bale of hay near the cart containing the painting.

Returning to Rome, Ezio made his way to the Vaticano district, where he followed Patrizio, who was hoping to sell Portrait of a Musician to the Hermeticists. Ezio watched as Ercole Massimo belittled Patrizio for his racist views on Lucrezia's Spanish heritage, and then had him murdered when he tried to destroy the painting out of anger. Ezio pursued the Hermeticist Ercole had tasked with transporting the painting and eventually retrieved it.

Ezio then traveled to the home of Francesco Colonna, only to find that the house had been seized by the bank. He was told that the da Vinci paintings had been sold to an art merchant from Florence, who was waiting at the docks outside the Mausoleo di Augusto.

Making his way there, Ezio was surprised to see that the art merchant was his sister's former love interest Duccio de Luca. Duccio immediately set about insulting Ezio for living in a "third-rate city" such as Rome, and then again for his sister being the Madame of the Rosa in Fiore. For his troubles, Duccio received a short, stout punch to the face from a now angered Ezio.

Duccio ordered his entourage to attack Ezio, though the Assassin was able to easily hold off his attackers. He eventually gained the information he wanted from Duccio, but the merchant pushed his insults even further against Claudia, resulting in a final blow, which knocked him unconscious.

After knocking Duccio out, Ezio made his way to the merchant's boat, which had been occupied by Hermeticists, to retrieve the third painting. Ezio swiftly eliminated them without being seen and claimed the painting as his own. He then made his way to the Rosa in Fiore in order to ascertain a means of obtaining the last two paintings, which had been bought by a cardinal and put on display inside the Castel Sant'Angelo.

Upon reaching the Rosa in Fiore, Ezio spoke of the art exhibition with his sister Claudia, who directed him to the docks, from where one invitation was meant to be delivered. Ezio intercepted the courier carrying the invitation, and met up with a group of courtesans on the Ponte Sant'Angelo, instructing them to steal the paintings he would mark.

Ezio marked the frame of the first painting, St Jerome in the Wilderness, after distracting the guards on duty, then proceeded into the Castel for the second, backtracking along the same path he had used to escape with Caterina years previously. After marking the second painting, Adoration of the Magi, in the upper chambers, he quickly left the Castel as cries over the theft rang out around him.

Ezio returned to Leonardo's workshop, where the five paintings had been stored. Inside, he found Salaì already working to find any clues for the location of the temple, though he had found nothing. Salaì was on the verge of giving up, when Ezio prompted him to think of ways Leonardo might have concealed his work. Salaì remembered that Leonardo taken to working with invisible inks, and suggested that Ezio he uses his gift of Eagle Vision to find any clues. Despite his annoyance at Leonardo for telling Salaì about his gift, Ezio did as was asked, and found small diagrams in each painting.

After inspecting all the paintings, Ezio drew out each diagram and laid them on the table. Salaì immediately worked out it was a map, although there were probably pieces missing from the two paintings destroyed during the Siege of Monteriggioni. Nonetheless, Ezio managed the piece together the map and located the entrance to the catacombs containing the Temple of Pythagoras.

Ezio entered the catacombs and made his way towards the temple. As he did so, he could hear Ercole Massimo beating Leonardo, demanding he open the door to the temple. Ezio ordered the Hermeticist to stop, and after a brief exchange of words, he was attacked by Ercole's allies. He dealt with them swiftly, before climbing up to Ercole and assassinating him with his Hidden Blade.

Though Ezio suggested that they leave as Leonardo was injured, the other protested, saying that the "number" the Hermeticists had been seeking must be destroyed, lest another go searching for it. Reluctantly, Ezio agreed.

In each room of the temple, Ezio and Leonardo found themselves confronted by a complex puzzle. The first room required Ezio to redirect beams of light, while the second had him redirect the flow of air into a large, fan-dominated, locking mechanism. In the final room, Ezio had to activate several switches, which directed streams of burning oil into a central plate. Once activated, the central plate lowered, revealing a large circular pedestal.

Ezio and Leonardo recognized the symbols upon the pedestal as those shown to them by the Apple, albeit in the wrong order. Ezio watched as Leonardo rotated the pillars so the images fit, opening the door to the temple's final chamber.

Entering the vault, Ezio recognized the architecture as matching that of the Vatican and Colosseum Vaults. He approached the central pedestal and placed his hand on it. A bright light activated above him and soon enough, the entire chamber was cloaked in a dim green light. Before them, six numbers and two letters repeated themselves: 43 39 19 N 75 27 42 W.

Although Leonardo totally dismissed the numbers as nonsense, Ezio remarked that the numbers were not meant for their eyes. To distract him from the numbers, Ezio asked Leonardo of his other projects as he led him from the room.

The coordinates: 43 39 19 N 75 27 42 W. To locating the Grand Temple were in Turin, New York.


	4. Chapter 4

Assassin's Creed Revelations

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my ancestors Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad in the Animus 2.03 at Abstergo Industries Rome facility. In March of 1511, Ezio traveled to Masyaf after he discovered a letter by his late father regarding the secret library of the Assassin Mentor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad – that was rumored to contain his invaluable knowledge – hidden beneath the old Assassin fortress. There, he was greeted by a battalion of Templars led by Leandros, whose forces managed to overwhelm Ezio in a fight; in the midst of his execution, Ezio escaped and made his way back into the fortress. He later found the entrance to the library, but learned that it needed special keys in order for it to be unlocked.

The hired worker that was present in the antechamber to the library mentioned to Ezio that the Templars found one of the keys beneath the Ottoman Sultan's palace, while speculating that the book held by Leandros would lead them to the others. With this in mind, Ezio set out of the fortress to take the book from Leandros, and eventually killed the Templar captain at Atlas Village after a long chase. After obtaining the book, Ezio set out for Constantinople, where the rest of the keys were hidden.

By May, Ezio had arrived at Constantinople, where he met a young man before docking, and was greeted by the leader of the local guild, Yusuf Tazim, right after his arrival. Yusuf gave Ezio a tour of the city, introducing him to the guild and showing what was left of the Byzantine empire within the city. Ezio also received a Hookblade and was taught how to use it. In return, Ezio later assisted with defending and retaking some of the city's Assassin Dens from the Templars.

After helping the guild recruit a few new initiates and being taught how to use bombs, Ezio went to the first location of the keys: the old trading post of Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, now a bookshop owned by Sofia Sartor, a woman whom Ezio first saw during his ferry to the city. After an introduction, Ezio found an entrance into the Yerebatan Cistern, where he found the first key along with a tome and an encrypted map that led to rare books which held the location of the other keys. Striking up a mutual agreement, Ezio made a promise with Sofia: if she helped decipher the map, he would let her borrow and print a few copies of the books.

In the midst of his search, Ezio helped Yusuf save the Ottoman prince from a planned assassination. Dressed as a minstrel, Ezio managed to stop the assassination, which earned him the favor of the prince; the same young man whom he met on his way to the city, Suleiman I. Following this, Ezio later met with Suleiman in order to learn of the perpetrator behind the attack, whom they suspected was the Janissary captain, Tarik Barleti.

Tailing Tarik, Ezio soon found out that the man had dealings with Manuel Palaiologos, the former heir of the Byzantine throne; with this knowledge, Suleiman requested that Ezio assassinate Tarik. However, in his dying moment, Tarik revealed that his forces were to ambush Manuel after gaining his favor. Before dying, Tarik entrusted Ezio to continue his plan, and set sail for Cappadocia.

In between his tasks for Suleiman, Ezio continually searched for the books with Sofia's help, all the while gaining her favor and assisting her with some errands. Ezio grew fond of Sofia's company, but he could not reveal his affiliations or occupation to her, for he feared that it would endanger her. She and Ezio eventually had to part ways for the time being, as Sofia sailed for Adrianopoli; before leaving, Ezio left Sofia to Yusuf's care during his absence. With each book, he was able to retrieve one of the keys from one of the many secret locations, and with each one, he was able to relive some key moments of Altaïr's life.

The first key showed his heroic efforts in 1190, where Altaïr saved Masyaf from an attack by the traitor Haras. The second key detailed his Mentor Al Mualim's pyre and Abbas Sofian's failed rebellion through utilizing an Apple of Eden, which Altaïr later retrieved. The third memory detailed Altaïr's fall from power in 1228; after defeating Genghis Khan's army with his son Darim and wife Maria, Altaïr found out that Abbas had usurped command from Altaïr's appointed proxy Malik Al-Sayf, and that his son Sef was murdered by Swami, Abbas' right-hand man.

Altaïr confronted Abbas and his loyalists, but was overcome with rage and used the Apple for revenge, which ultimately caused the death of both Swami and Maria. In the wake of this incident, Altaïr left Masyaf with Darim before Abbas could apprehend them. The fourth key showed Altaïr's return to power in 1247, with the help of several Assassins who grew tired of Abbas' rule; he achieved this through Abbas' death at his hands, where Altaïr used his newly crafted Hidden Gun.

Ezio arrived at Cappadocia by March 1512 with Piri Reis, after destroying Constantinople's Great Chain. There, he met with Tarik's informant Dilara at the city of Derinkuyu. Dilara was eventually captured after she and Ezio parted ways, and was being held by Shahkulu, Palaiologos' partner. With haste, Ezio rescued Dilara, though she departed to save what was left of her men from Shahkulu. In the city, they learned that Shahkulu planned to beat one of Dilara's men, Janos, to death; Ezio stopped the public beating and killed Shahkulu after a tough fight. Afterwards, Ezio planned to burn the fake artillery given to Manuel by Tarik, which will cause the artillery's authentic gunpowder to explode.

Ezio was successful in infiltrating the city's armory, and managed to cause an explosion that ensued enough chaos to draw out Manuel Palaiologos. The Assassin then managed to corner Manuel after a long chase, and killed him before he could escape by the city's inner harbor. As a result, Ezio managed to obtain the last key from Manuel. Just then, Ezio saw Prince Ahmet – uncle of Suleiman and whom Ezio had encountered on several occasions – on a ship with the Byzantines. Ahmet revealed his true role as the Byzantine Templars' leader. There, he threatened Ezio into handing over the key, and after the Assassin's refusal, Ahmet threatened to hold Sofia Sartor captive. Despite Ezio's warnings, Ahmet went ahead and set sail back to Constantinople. Hurriedly, Ezio escaped the burning city and made his way back to his boat, and on the way back, he relived the fifth key's memory of Altaïr's life.

The fifth key revealed Altaïr's twilight years in 1257; Niccolò and Maffeo Polo were preparing to leave for Constantinople, to establish a guild, after their stay in Masyaf. At the time, the invading Mongols drew near the city. Altaïr gave the brothers his Codex as a parting gift, and escorted them out of the city with Darim, defeating any Mongol who drew near by using his Apple of Eden. As the brothers left on their horses, Altaïr gave him the keys, which he asked to be hidden from others, so that the one who was meant to know the message could seek it out.

Ezio later returned to Constantinople, hurriedly making his way to Sofia's book shop. There, he found a platoon of Assassins dead, as well as Yusuf, who had a message for Ezio attached to his corpse via a dagger to the back. Filled with rage at the slaughter, Ezio made his way to the Harbor of Theodosius and stormed the area with the guild's many apprentices. There he found Ahmet, and threatened him for Sofia's location. However, he only agreed to release her on the condition that Ezio meet him by the Galata Tower with all of the Masyaf keys. As Ahmet left, Suleiman revealed himself to Ezio, who asked him to stop his uncle's ambitions, without killing him if possible.

Ezio later met with Ahmet after appointing a new leader for the Turkish guild. During the meeting, Ahmet had one of his men hold Sofia by the edge of the Galata Tower. Pressured into a decision, Ezio gave the keys to Ahmet and went to Sofia's rescue. However, the woman was only a decoy, and the real Sofia was about to be hanged somewhere else. Ezio hurriedly made his way to her, managing to save her in time. As Sofia recovered, Ezio watched as Ahmet's carriage left the city, before he spurred himself and Sofia onto one of their own to give chase. Fortunately, Ezio managed to catch up to Ahmet by the city's countryside, eventually causing his carriage to fall, along with Ahmet and himself. As they fought while falling, Ezio utilized his parachute to save himself and Ahmet, managing to land safely. The Assassin then retrieved the keys while contemplating what to do with Ahmet.

As he did however, Ahmet's brother – Selim I – arrived with a platoon of Ottoman guards and Janissaries. Surprised, Ahmet ordered the troops to stand down in the name of the sultan, Bayezid II, though unbeknownst to him, Selim had been named the new Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; Selim then murdered his brother by pushing him off of a nearby cliff. Meeting with Ezio, Selim went on to threaten that Ezio be killed if he returned to Constantinople, sparing him only due to Suleiman's good word. As tensions grew between the two men, Ezio's rage was only quelled by Sofia, and as Selim left, so too did Ezio and Sofia, heading for Masyaf.

Ezio and Sofia arrived at Masyaf, with Ezio explaining the history of the Assassins and its creed along the way. There, Ezio reflected upon his life and decided to retire after learning the contents of the library, to spend the rest of his time with Sofia. Arriving at the library's door, Ezio utilized the five keys and managed to solve the puzzle etched into it, before he made his way inside and soon found the library; void of books, except for the seated remains of Altaïr. His corpse held one last key, where his last major memory was imprinted.

By the end of 1257, Altaïr had emptied the fortress and had all of his Assassins dispersed. Meeting with Darim one last time, Altaïr ordered him to leave so that the fortress would be empty when the Mongols returned, him staying within the library along with the Apple. Embracing his son one last time, Altaïr locked himself in the library, and then placed the Apple on a pedestal. The Assassin then sat on one of the chairs, holding his last key and imprinted his memory before dying at the age of 92.

After reliving Altaïr's final memory, Ezio went to inspect the Mentor's Apple of Eden by the pedestal, though he decided it best for the Piece of Eden to stay where it was, before finally laying down his arms as a sign of his retirement. There, the Apple activated, as Ezio called out to me. The Assassin admitted and accepted my existence as a conduit for a message not meant for him, asking me to make the bloodshed in my life mean something. As an apparition of me appeared, Ezio reached out for me, triggering the Synch Nexus.

Within the Nexus, I meet Jupiter. There, the ultimate fate of the First Civilization was revealed: their people had several temples built to study ways on how to save themselves from the coming of a great calamity about to occur. Each temple tried different methods in stopping the event, and had their data subsequently transmitted to the Grand Temple. Despite their efforts, their methods proved to be ineffective, which eventually caused the downfall of their civilization, bringing them to near extinction, as well as humanity. Jupiter then showed the location of the Grand Temple to me, which was in New York. Jupiter, along with Minerva and Juno, entrusted me.


	5. Chapter 5

Assassin's Creed 3

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my ancestors Haytham Kenway and Ratonhnhaké: ton in the Animus 3.0 at Abstergo Industries Rome facility. In production at the London Theatre Royal, Haytham murders a man named Miko and steals a medallion and which he and his associates believe allows access to a storehouse for "those who came before". After Haytham returns with the medallion, he is dispatched to the British American colonies to find the storehouse.

After preventing an attempt by crewman Louis Mills to turn him over to a trailing ship while on board the Providence, Haytham arrives in Boston. There, he is tasked with gathering together five men faithful to his cause: Charles Lee, William Johnson, Thomas Hickey, Benjamin Church and Jonathan Pitcairn. In the process, he kills a slave trader named Silas Thatcher and frees a large group of Kanien'kehá: ka tribespeople, believing it will make then amicable to his cause.

One of these Kanien'kehá: ka, Kaniehtí: io, agrees to help Haytham find the storehouse on the condition that he kill General Edward Braddock, the man responsible for enslaving her people. After tracking his movements, Haytham slays Braddock as he retreats from the battle at Fort Duquesne. Haytham and Kaniehtí: io then travels to the entrance of the Grand Temple, only to find the medallion Haytham possesses cannot open it. At that moment, the pair reveals their romantic feelings for each other, beginning a relationship that will continue for some time.

Shortly after, Charles Lee is formally recruited into Haytham's organization, the Templar story then switches to the point of view of Ratonhnhaké: ton, Kaniehtí: io's son by Haytham. After playing hide and seek with his childhood friends in the forest near his village, he encounters Charles Lee and associates, who forcibly inform Ratonhnhaké: ton that they wish to speak with the village elders. Ratonhnhaké: ton is then knocked unconscious, and on his return to the village, he discovers it has been set ablaze. Though he can find his mother and attempts to free her from a collapsed structure, he is ultimately unable to save her, and she dies before his eyes.

Some years later, a teenage Ratonhnhaké: ton is told by a village elder that the reason no one is allowed to leave the nearby valley is that their purpose is to protect the Grand Temple. She then shows him a crystal-like sphere, which activates at his touch and allows him to communicate with Juno. Juno informs him that he and his village are guardians of the Grand Temple, and current probabilities indicate that unless he leaves, his village will be destroyed and his people slaughtered. After showing the Kanien'kehá: ka teenager the symbol of the Assassins, she tells him to leave the valley, find Achilles Davenport – an Assassin – and convince the elder, embittered fighter to train him.

After accomplishing this by protecting the Davenport manor from bandits, Ratonhnhaké: ton adopts the name "Connor" on Achilles' suggestion, and the pair set off to collect supplies from Boston. There Haytham attempts to frame his son for the events of the Boston Massacre, leaving Connor notorious in the city. He then meets Samuel Adams, who gives Connor advice on how to decrease his notoriety.

On his return, Achilles presents Connor with the Aquila, a ship he can use to patrol the Eastern American seaboard. As Connor learns the art of being an Assassin, he is brought into the cities of Boston, and New York, as well as a large open area, called the Frontier.

After being made a full-fledged member of the Assassin Brotherhood by Achilles, Connor sets out to eliminate the Colonial Templars. William Johnson is assassinated first after he attempts to purchase the land on which Connor's people resided. Next, Connor targeted John Pitcairn, the leader of the British forces at Bunker and Breed's Hills and retrieved the second power cell.

Connor then pursues Thomas Hickey, whom he discovers is plotting to assassinate George Washington. Connor finds Hickey, and after a brief scuffle, both are thrown into prison. However, Hickey isn't detained for long and is freed through Haytham and Lee's influence, while Connor is framed for the plot against Washington and is sentenced to death by hanging. Luckily, Achilles and his fellow Assassins manage to free Connor at the execution. Connor then charges after Hickey and manages to assassinate him before the Templar can kill Washington.

With Haytham, Lee, and Benjamin Church still at large, Connor fears they still plot to eliminate Washington. Connor meets with Washington, who informs him that Church has stolen goods vital to the Continental Army and has fled. Connor agrees to pursue him, and in the process meets his father, Haytham.

Haytham reveals his pursuit of Church, who has betrayed the Templars as well, and the two agree to set aside their differences and find Church together. Upon traveling to the Caribbean via the Aquila and pursuing Church's ship, Haytham and Connor locate Church and kill him, and retrieved the fourth power return to the colonies to meet with Washington.

Here, Haytham discovers a letter from Washington ordering the removal of all the indigenous tribes from the land, as a number of them support the British. One of the tribes to be removed is the Kanien'kehá: ka, despite their neutrality, and Connor severs his ties with Haytham and Washington as a result. He then takes off to protect his tribe's village from encroaching Patriot forces.

On arriving, Connor finds his people to be safe but also discovers that the Clan Mother has dispatched tribesmen to turn back the Continental troops sent to purge the village. Connor stopped his fellows from attacking the troops but is forced to kill his closest childhood friend, Kanen'tó:kon, who had been influenced by Charles Lee.

Connor becomes torn in his mission to eliminate the Templars, believing he can turn his father to the Assassin way of thinking. He then sets off to pursue Lee, who has been disgraced by Washington and taken refuge in Fort George. With the assistance of Lafayette, Connor has New York harbor shelled to create a distraction and infiltrates the fort. However, he is ambushed by Haytham, who reveals that Lee has escaped with the medallion, and the pair engages in battle. Now accepting that his father will not be convinced, Connor kills Haytham.

Connor pursues Lee once more. After eavesdropping on a ship's captain to ascertain Lee's location, Connor chases Lee through a vessel under construction that has been set ablaze. The two come to a stalemate after falling through a section of the ship, and Connor is impaled at the waist by a broken piece of wood.

Lee asks Connor why he continues to persist, even though the Templar Order follows a cycle of their power waxing and waning. Connor replies "Because no one else will," and shoots Lee in the chest, preventing the Templar from finishing him off. A severely wounded Lee then escapes across a nearby lake via a ferry, with an injured Connor in pursuit. Finally, Connor finds Lee in a pub, and the pair shares a last drink before Connor stabs Lee lethally in the chest.

Connor takes the medallion from Lee's body, and several months later, he returns to his tribe's village only to find they have moved elsewhere. He then locates the crystal sphere, presumably left behind for him to find. In the vision that it shows him, Juno reappears and instructs him to hide the medallion where no one else will find it. Connor does so, burying the medallion in the grave of Connor Davenport, Achilles' deceased son and his namesake

Power sources, or power cells, were First Civilization artifacts that powered the Grand Temple. In 2012, I recovered the first power source at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Mexico. I defeated Daniel Cross at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Mexico.

I retrieved the second power sources at the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece. I defeated Daniel Cross at the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece.

I obtained the third power sources at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt. I defeated Daniel Cross at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt.

I gained the fourth power source at the Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo, Japan. I killed Daniel Cross and Warren Vidic at the Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo, Japan. The Eye-Abstergo satellite launch had been cancelled. I destroyed the bodies of Daniel Cross and Warren Vidic.

I recovered the medallion in the grave of Connor Davenport, Achilles' deceased son.

After finding the Grand Temple in a cave in Turin, New York. I unlocked the entrance to the Grand Temple with the Apple of Eden. While exploring the Temple, I inserted the power sources crucial to exploring the Grand Temple, During my time at the Grand Temple, I would encountered Juno, who reveals the events that led up to the first cataclysm that scarred the Earth. During these lectures, I learned Before and after the war with humanity, all information from the other Temples regarding any way to prevent the first catastrophe was sent there for Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva to "sort and sample all that was collected." The three tested six possible solutions in succession," each more encouraging than the last", but all six solutions ultimately failed.

The first solution was to build four towers to collect the solar flare that would strike the planet, and virtually dispel it. While they had the means and resources, the time to produce the solution would take too long to be successful. The first tower was never completed and the research was abandoned.

However, Juno mentioned that some members of the First Civilization attempted to continue the pursuit of this solution, and sought to automate the construction process, hoping that the machines would have been able to finish the first tower.

The second solution was to use the Shards of Eden, on a much larger scale than ever before. The magnetic field emitted by the Shards could protect the planet against the solar flare, but it was too large to build and was considered impossible.

The scientists hoped to save a possible half, a sixth, an eighth, or even a tenth of the planet. However, the lack of time and resources proved too great, and it was theorized that a city might have been spared at best, given more time. Like the first solution, this one was also abandoned in the end.

The third solution was discovered by using the Apples of Eden to control humanity. If enough humans were compelled to believe in one idea, their thoughts took on form and became reality.

The consequent solution involved launching an Apple of Eden into orbit, aiming it towards the planet, and commanding the entire human race to think one thought, "Make us safe."

However, even with a dozen of the Apples sent into orbit, the First Civilization lacked the means to direct and maintain the control beam, and simultaneously influence the humans on a global scale. The project was eventually abandoned.

Minerva discovered that there was a pattern of numbers and equations that define existence. If one could comprehend these numbers, time itself could be the fourth solution was to attempt to go back in time and prevent the disaster before it could occur.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the scientists' attempts had no effect on the present. The device they created could, however, look into the future, to see if the other solutions would prevent the disaster, but the result was always a failure.

The solution was abandoned, though Minerva herself continued her studies on the underlying mathematics of the universe, and eventually used her knowledge to actively communicate with individuals in the far future, such as my, through the memories of my ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

The fifth solution was to augment the bodies of the remaining First Civilization members to adapt to the hostile new climate which appeared on Earth following the catastrophe.

Aita, Juno's husband, volunteered to test the method, resulting in his mind degenerating and becoming increasingly catatonic. With enough will, he wished for Juno to euthanize him, and she fulfilled it. The solution was subsequently abandoned.

The sixth solution was to create entirely new vessels that could safely transfer one's consciousness in a way that the former solution had failed to do. The new vessels would be able to withstand the new environment, and they could house the transferred consciousness.

However, while transferring one's consciousness into the new vessel was easy, subsequent releasing of oneself from the vessel was nearly impossible and required another being's sacrifice to be successful. As a result, this solution was ultimately abandoned.

I accessed the confines of the Temple. Here, I find the apparition of Juno, who instructs me to activate a pedestal which will save the world from the ongoing solar flares. However, Minerva's apparition suddenly appears and reveals that by doing as Juno says, I will die and free Juno from captivity, allowing her to begin her conquest of the world. She explains that Juno was sealed long ago during the war between the First Civilization and humanity when she plotted to use the machines designed to save the world against it.

Minerva, prodded by Juno, then shows me that if the Sun were to unleash its power on the world, me and a small collective of humans would survive to repopulate the world. I would become a religious icon in this new world, but my words would be mistranslated and lead the world to continue a perpetual cycle of destruction. Believing the world would stand a better chance from both Juno and the Solar Flare. I defeated Juno and I prevented the Solar flare by reverse engineering the aurora borealis device.

Connor takes down the Templar portraits in the Davenport Manor's basement and burns them, signifying the end of his addition, his return to his village is detailed further, showing he spoke to a hunter there, who revealed that the land had been sold to settlers in order to settle the new United States government's war debts. Connor also travels to the pier in New York, where he witnesses the last of the British Regulars leave America for good. However, he also sees evidence of the slave trade present in the newly formed nation, right next to the pier of citizens cheering at the departure of the British.

Sometime later, Connor was camping out on the Frontier, when Washington sought him out for help. The commander explained he was plagued by, which he revealed were caused by an that he recovered from an officer after the. Connor convinced Washington to hand him the Apple, but as he took the Apple from his hands, the pair found themselves in an illusionary timeline brought on by the Apple.

Ratonhnhaké: ton was awakened by his mother, Kaniehtí: io, who alerted him to a threat in the forest. As he followed her, Ratonhnhaké: ton questioned Kaniehtí: io as to why she was alive and what was going on, though he received no answer. Soon enough, they met a Bluecoat ambush attacking a Native American woman. After dispatching the soldiers, the woman warned Kaniehtí: io that King George was looking for her and had attacked the town of Concord. Ratonhnhaké: ton and Kaniehtí: io then set out towards Concord in order to try and save the townspeople, while on route Ratonhnhaké: ton once more questioned his mother to why the woman had called Washington a 'king'.

As they reached the top of a hill, the pair witnessed a group of Bluecoats forcing the townspeople into the church and barricading the door, while the troops' leader demanded that the citizens inform him of the whereabouts of Kaniehtí: io. Due to the townspeople insisting they did not know her location, the Bluecoats set fire to the church. In response, Ratonhnhaké: ton and his mother quickly ambushed Washington's men and liberated the townspeople, only for a cannonball blast to kill the group before they could escape.

Following this tragedy, Kaniehtí: io urged Ratonhnhaké: ton onward, telling him that they could not afford to stop in the middle of the conflict to mourn losses. The pair then ventured through Concord to disable the Bluecoat cannoneers, before turning the armaments on the reinforcements heading towards the colonial town

On dispatching the troops and messengers that passed by, both Natives made their way to Lexington, where they met King Washington in person. There, he renewed his intention to destroy Kanatahséton and rode off, leaving Kaniehtí: io and Ratonhnhaké: ton behind to prevent Bluecoat runners from igniting kegs of gunpowder and causing more casualties.

From there, Kaniehtí: io insisted that the two of them return to warn the Kanien'kehá: ka village of Washington's impending attack, but they were ambushed in the forest close by and had to resort to defending themselves until two warriors from Kanatahséton, and, came to their aid. Despite their assistance, when Kaniehtí: io questioned their appearance and was told that they were sent by the Clan Mother to harvest ingredients for a sacred strength-giving tea, she reacted with anger on hearing mention of it.

Later, both Ratonhnhaké: ton and Kaniehtí: io returned to their village, where Ratonhnhaké: ton witnessed his mother argue with Oiá: ner about the herbal tea made from the frontier's, with Oiá: ner countering that the Kanien'kehá: ka needed it to prepare for Washington's attack.

Kaniehtí: io rebuked this claim by stating that in the end, the consequences of the tea would have been too severe to justify using it. Eventually, she stormed off, and as Ratonhnhaké: ton followed her into the longhouse, Kaniehtí:io gave him a pair of Hidden Blades that his father had left for him, though she showed slight surprise in how Ratonhnhaké: ton was familiar with the weapon. Ratonhnhaké: ton then attempted to explain that the whole situation was wrong, but before he could finish, the Bluecoats attacked.

The newly appointed King Washington, accompanied by Benedict Arnold and General Putnam, killed Ratonhnhaké: ton's mother with a blast from a scepter containing an. Enraged and grief-stricken, Ratonhnhaké: ton attacked Washington, only to be easily defeated by the Apple from which the power originated. Knocked back on the ground, weakened and vulnerable, Ratonhnhaké: ton was subsequently shot twice and stabbed with a musket in his chest by Washington, to which he slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

When Ratonhnhaké: ton awoke in a cave, five months had passed. There, the Clan Mother told Ratonhnhaké: ton what had happened, and she noted that he was not surprised at witnessing his mother's death; in fact, she stated that he took her murder very well.

Ratonhnhaké: ton was then instructed by the Clan Mother to climb the frontier's Red Willow, pluck its virgin boughs, and drink the willow tea brewed from them. Heeding her words, Ratonhnhaké: ton ingested the tea and violently vomited, though he ventured on a spirit journey.

At the end of the vision, Ratonhnhaké: ton gained the ability to become, as well as summon a to ambush his enemies.

Shortly thereafter, he was requested by one of his fellow warriors, Kahionhaténion, to assist him in locating and rescuing his brother, Teiowí:sonte. The two tracked Kahionhaténion's brother and discovered that he was tied up along with other members of the village, who were lined up to be executed. Once Ratonhnhaké: ton and Kahionhaténion liberated their people, Ratonhnhaké: ton was instructed to return to the Clan Mother for further instruction.

When he returned to their hideout, Ratonhnhaké: ton discovered that all of the villagers had been slaughtered, along with a dying Clan Mother. In her last words to Ratonhnhaké: ton, Oiá: ner told him to kill Washington, as well as Israel Putnam and Benedict Arnold, finishing what his mother had started.

She also told him that Kaniehtí: io was right to be worried about the tea and warned him to respect its power. With a solemn promise to carry out her request, Ratonhnhaké: ton infiltrated Valley Forge, trailed Israel Putnam to a fortress and discovered Benedict in the center of the stronghold. Once his guards had been defeated, Ratonhnhaké: ton confronted Benedict Arnold and mortally wounded him.

Before Arnold died, Ratonhnhaké: ton told him that he had been waiting a long time to kill him for his defection to the British Army, though Arnold was bewildered by this and protested that he had never set foot inside West Point. Arnold further claimed that he was being controlled by Washington and told Ratonhnhaké: ton to liberate in Boston, but died before he could say any more.

Unbeknownst to Ratonhnhaké: ton, Putnam approached from behind and forcefully hit him in the head with the butt of his pistol, rendering him unconscious. Once fully awake, Ratonhnhaké: ton realized that he had been captured and was being transported in a convoy heading for Boston. Along the way, Putnam revealed his intentions of taking over Boston, likely intending to gain it as a reward for handing over Ratonhnhaké: ton to Washington.

Upon arriving in Boston, Putnam presented Ratonhnhaké: ton in a cell to Washington and Franklin. Surprised to see that he survived their last encounter, Washington ordered that Ratonhnhaké: ton be beheaded as they left. In solitude and imprisoned, Ratonhnhaké: ton distracted the guards by turning invisible, before locking them in his own cell when they entered to investigate.

Following this, Ratonhnhaké: ton discovered Kanen'tó:kon in the neighboring cell and learned that his friend had joined Samuel Adams' , Ratonhnhaké: ton freed him and recovered his own equipment, during which Kanen'tó:kon noticed a vial of the Red Willow tea. Deciding he ought to undertake his own spirit journey to help, Kanen'tó:kon attempted to drink the concoction, though by remembering Oiá: ner and his mother's words, Ratonhnhaké: ton interrupted him by insisting that it would be too dangerous.

Responding to this, Kanen'tó:kon revealed that multiple animal spirits could be met through consuming the tea, so Ratonhnhaké: ton volunteered that he drink it instead, as he was already familiar with the spirit world and could handle the tea's risks. Journeying to the Sky World once more, Ratonhnhaké: ton encountered an eagle spirit and gained the ability to.

Ratonhnhaké: ton awoke, just as Bluecoats led by Franklin arrived to prevent their departure. Using his newfound power to secure his and his friend's escape, Kanen'tó:kon fought the remaining soldiers while Ratonhnhaké: ton chased after Franklin and tackled him on a rooftop. Dazed, Franklin began to awake from Washington's control but was interrupted when the king himself teleported in and attacked Ratonhnhaké: ton.

However, now armed with the power of the wolf and eagle, Ratonhnhaké: ton had an easier time attacking Washington, who was forced to escape by casting illusions of him taunting Ratonhnhaké: ton, and of Kaniehtí: io expressing anger at her son for drinking the Red Willow tea. As Washington managed to slip away, Kanen'tó:kon and Adams later found Ratonhnhaké: ton unconscious in the streets, to which they roused him and brought him to a safe house.

Ratonhnhaké: ton was determined to find Franklin, and was told of a tavern he could listen for information at. Avoiding the suspicious soldiers by playing a game of checkers, he eavesdropped on a messenger who was sent to deliver a letter to Putnam by Franklin. Pickpocketing the letter, Ratonhnhaké: ton learned that Franklin planned to meet Putnam at the docks before he replaced the document to ensure its delivery. There, despite Franklin's meeting going awry, Ratonhnhaké: ton captured Benjamin after shooting him twice with arrows, finally freeing him of Washington's control, before taking the king's former lieutenant to Adams.

Angered at Franklin's presence, Adams was skeptical of the man's change of heart and wanted him dead, though Ratonhnhaké: ton convinced Adams that Franklin had useful information to share with the resistance: Franklin immediately told them that Washington had gone to New York to deal with the rebels there.

Disdainfully leaving Franklin in Ratonhnhaké: ton's care, Adams, and Kanen'tó:kon planned to make their way to New York via the thanks to a sympathetic Bluecoat captain, where they could then join with 's rebels. Franklin informed them he had created a special means of protection for Washington's palace in New York, and to bypass it they would require a special metal from a loyal.

Ratonhnhaké: ton met the blacksmith – who turned out to be – but learned that he had used the metal for horseshoes for a high-ranking soldier at. After Ratonhnhaké: ton stole the horse, Franklin pried off the horseshoes and then asked him to obtain his diagram from an officer at the tavern.

Ratonhnhaké: ton met with the officer, who informed him of a massacre at Boston Neck. He explained Putnam had started a rumor that the captain at Boston Neck was friendly to the rebels, and claimed to have witnessed the death of Adams. Enraged by his gloating, Ratonhnhaké: ton smacked him with a checkerboard and promptly beat up the other soldiers in the tavern.

After taking the diagram, Ratonhnhaké: ton hurried to Boston Neck and verified the tragedy for himself, finding Kanen'tó:kon's tomahawk and two severed fingers, along with Adams' torn bloodied uniform. Ratonhnhaké: ton returned to Franklin, informing him of their loss, and added that the pair would have to leave by sea.

To do this, Ratonhnhaké: ton stole a Bluecoat's uniform so that Franklin could take him to an excellent ship he knew, and guarded the Founding Father along the way. At the docks, they found a drunken Robert Faulkner, who had the _Aquila_ confiscated by Franklin. Ratonhnhaké: ton promised Faulkner that Franklin had turned on the king, and aimed to prove this by returning his ship. While Faulkner gathered a crew, Ratonhnhaké: ton took out the snipers at the docks and unfastened the ropes docking the _Aquila_.

That morning, Faulkner's sailors charged the docks but found that the _Aquila_ had drifted out into the open sea. To secure their escape, Ratonhnhaké: ton fended off Washington's soldiers while the crew swam to the ship, until Putnam emerged, holding Kanen'tó:kon hostage. Putnam threatened to shoot him unless Ratonhnhaké: ton gave up, but he used the Eagle Flight to surprise Putnam and assassinate him.

As he lay dying, Putnam acknowledged Washington's control but felt guilty, blaming himself for the evil that the Apple had simply unleashed within him. Afterward, Ratonhnhaké: ton and Kanen'tó:kon made their break for freedom, dodging musket fire and diving into the bay.

Later, aboard the _Aquila_ , Kanen'tó:kon apologized, explaining Putnam had tortured him until he suggested that the rebels would escape by sea, but Ratonhnhaké: ton bluntly answered that he did not care. Then, as the Aquila arrived into New York's bay, the two gazed in awe as they spotted Washington's. Suddenly, the king's ships began attacking: Ratonhnhaké: ton took the wheel and sank their fleet, and ordered the crew to recover their flags to disguise their ship. After navigating through a placed around Manhattan, the _Aquila_ devastated another fleet but ran out of firepower. Ratonhnhaké: ton gave the order to abandon ship, and rammed the _Aquila_ into a Man-of-War while the crew swam away.

After finding himself on dry land, Ratonhnhaké: ton discovered Kanen'tó:kon had died protecting Franklin from Washington. Angered, Ratonhnhaké: ton drank the tea and went on another spiritual journey. Despite the protests of his mother's ghost, he found the spirit of the bear and gained the power to. This ability also turned his eyes unnaturally blue. Waking up, Ratonhnhaké: ton and Franklin went in search of Jefferson's rebels and found him leading an attack on the Pyramid's courtyard, which was failing due to their exits being blocked off. Ratonhnhaké:ton used his power to tear open an escape path, joining Jefferson in the process.

Jefferson informed Ratonhnhaké: ton they would need to sway the people to join the rebellion: he suggested removing, an official selling food at inflated prices. Ratonhnhaké: ton tracked him to his base of operations and assassinated him, and asked a civilian - who happened to be - to help him deliver food to the starving civilians. Ratonhnhaké: ton fended off soldiers attempting to block Warren's carriage from reaching the marketplace: once there, Jefferson began gaining the people's favor, to which Ratonhnhaké: ton quipped had been bought with a few carrots.

Afterward, Ratonhnhaké: ton continued to create unrest in Washington, destroying statues of the king, blowing up cannons, assassinating officers, assaulting town criers and hanging soldiers in the streets with the rope dart. Initially, it seemed to have no effect on the king's power, as Ratonhnhaké: ton and Franklin watched a rally where Washington declared he would invade England. As time passed, civilians began fighting soldiers in the streets

Jefferson sent Ratonhnhaké: ton to commence Washington's downfall by rescuing a captured spy in the military district. The spy - Godfrey - planted explosives at the base of the tower where the army kept their ammunition, which Ratonhnhaké: ton detonated, toppling the tower.

The following morning, the Bluecoats and rebels clashed before Washington's Pyramid. Franklin gave him the key he had made in Boston to enter the king's throne room. Ratonhnhaké: ton used his abilities to track how his mother had infiltrated the Pyramid to steal the Apple, allowing him to journey to the top of the Pyramid, where Washington stood waiting.

Before commencing their battle, the king asked the Assassin what he would do with the Apple's power, to which Ratonhnhaké: ton responded he would not use it to enslave the people as Washington had done. Ratonhnhaké: ton eventually defeated the king by breaking the Pyramid's stained glass ceiling, and the two fell into the throne room.

A mortally wounded Washington slumped into his throne with the Apple. As Ratonhnhaké: ton approached him, visions of Kanen'tó:kon and Kaniehtí: io begged him not to take the Apple, while a final vision of himself demanded he takes it.

Seizing the Apple, Connor, and Washington were returned to their own reality, and the Apple fell to the ground in a flash of light. The two distrustfully looked at one another, cautious of what they had seen the other capable of. Washington eventually relented and turned the Apple over to Connor, who in turn stated no man should possess such power. The commander suggested dropping it into the ocean with a weight, before riding off.

Sometime later, Connor took the _Aquila_ out to sea. He briefly gazed at the Apple, sealed and weighted in a bag, before dropping it into the writing your story


	6. Chapter 6

Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my ancestor Edward Kenway in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertainments Montreal facility. In early 1715, Edward's ship attacked a passing vessel which proved to be too much for the crew to handle. With their Captain dead, Edward took the helm and did his best to keep the ship afloat. While the pirates emerged victorious thanks to the storm, the ship's magazine caught fire and exploded, sinking the ship. Shipwrecked in Cape Bonavista, Edward met the only other survivor, an Assassin named Duncan Walpole, whose ship the pirates had attacked.

Washing up next to Edward, Walpole was wounded by the shrapnel from the magazine's explosion. He offered to pay Edward for passage to Havana. Edward agreed upon condition of immediate payment, and advanced toward Walpole. Concerned, the Assassin drew his pistol, but it misfired due to wet gunpowder. Walpole fled, and Edward pursued him through the jungle, taking an interest in Walpole's Hidden Blade. Cornering Walpole, Edward quickly dispatched the wounded Assassin.

Looting Walpole's body, Edward found a letter from Governor Laureano de Torres y Ayala of Havana, detailing Walpole's intended defection to the Templar Order. Oblivious to the implications of the letter, Edward donned Walpole's Assassin robes but was forced to discard the broken Hidden Blade, and collected a crystalline rectangular prism which was to be delivered to Torres for payment.

Edward shortly encountered a group of English soldiers harassing a merchant named Stede Bonnet, whom they believed to have been one of the pirates involved in the earlier battle. After dispatching the soldiers, Edward introduced himself to Bonnet using Walpole's name and accompanied him to Havana.

Upon arriving, the two traveled to a local tavern to meet with Bonnet's contact, where several thugs recognized Edward as a pirate and provoked him into a fight. After dispatching the men, Edward was forced to flee as Spanish soldiers entered the tavern and began to chase him. While he was able to escape, the Spanish turned on Bonnet and seized his ship's holdings, including the package meant for Torres. Edward infiltrated the Spanish fort to recover the package before going to the intended meeting with Torres.

Edward carefully maintained his charade as he conversed with prospective Templars - Woodes Rogers, whose wife had met Duncan, and Julien du Casse. Du Casse equipped Edward with a new pair of Hidden Blades and requested that Edward show them some Assassin techniques in action. Picking up on hints from Du Casse and Rogers, Edward was able to replicate the moves with relative accuracy.

When Torres eventually arrived, Rogers, Du Casse and "Walpole" were inducted into the Templar Order. Edward listened to Torres' plans to locate a First Civilization site known as the Observatory, which the Templars believed would allow them to monitor every person in the world and learn all their secrets. Uninterested, Edward took the opportunity to pickpocket the Templars as they discussed their plans.

The four then traveled to the city docks to retrieve a man named Bartholomew Roberts, an alleged Sage who knew the Observatory's location. On the way back to the governor's house, they were ambushed by Assassins and Roberts fled, though Edward managed to chase him down and retrieve him. As Roberts was led away, Torres gave Edward Walpole's intended pay for a job well done - 1000 reales.

Later, meeting with Bonnet, Edward complained about the pay he had received, believing it was insufficient. He then resolved to discover the Observatory's location and sell it to the highest bidder, and realized he would need the Sage's assistance. He infiltrated the prison where Roberts was being held, only to find the Sage gone and the Templars, having discovered his ruse, waiting for him. For robbing them of Walpole's valuable expertise, Torres had Edward imprisoned on a ship in the Spanish Treasure Fleet heading for Seville, to deliver him to British Templars in London.

Edward managed to escape confinement with the help of a similarly imprisoned Adéwalé, recruit a number of other prisoners, and steal one of the fleet's ships in the process. Hit by a storm, they narrowly managed to escape before the entire accompanying fleet was sunk. Edward decided to name his newly acquired ship Jackdaw and, realizing that hardly any of his new crew would accept Adéwalé as captain, dubbed him Quartermaster.

Heading to Nassau with his new ship, Edward introduced Adéwalé to three of his old associates - Edward Thatch, James Kidd and Benjamin Hornigold. Edward then moved throughout the British-occupied town, freeing imprisoned pirates to recruit as crewmen and weakening British control over the island. That complete, he began working with Hornigold and Kidd to carry out lucrative missions, plundering ships and raiding a nearby plantation.

Thatch shared with Edward his concerns about protecting their newly formed "Pirate Republic" from British recapture, and proposed a plan to take a particular Spanish Galleon in order to better protect the nascent revolutionary state. At his request, Edward located and tailed the Galleon to Great Inagua, only to learn that the ship was owned by none other than Julien du Casse. Reasoning that du Casse could not be allowed to live and spread news of Edward's escape, Edward approached the cove through the jungle, snuck aboard the ship and assassinated du Casse.

James Kidd congratulated Edward on his victory, and brought him to a Mayan stela in the jungle, telling him to use "the light of life" to uncover the treasure to which it pointed. Kidd then showed Edward an underground tunnel leading to the du Casse manor and the special armor locked away there, and proposed that Edward keep the island as his base. He also requested that Edward meet him in Tulum in several weeks' time, as he had more to show Edward there.

Arriving in Tulum, Edward found himself having to sneak through the jungle to meet with Kidd, as the area was heavily guarded by Assassin forces. Upon their eventual meeting, Edward was set upon by Ah Tabai, who demanded to know why Edward had sold their location to the Templars and attacked the Assassins in Havana. Kidd diffused the situation by telling Ah Tabai that Edward had "the Sense", and requested leave for them to enter a nearby temple. After claiming that he would recognize Bartholomew Roberts if he saw the man again, Edward was granted access to the temple with Kidd.

While explaining the nature of the Assassin-Templar conflict and the Creed, Kidd led Edward to an antechamber containing a sculpture of the Sage. Edward originally claimed that it did not resemble Roberts at all; however, as he and Kidd completed an associated puzzle, layers of the sculpture were removed to show a better likeness underneath. Astonished, Edward confirmed that the statue perfectly resembled Roberts.

When Edward and Kidd exited the temple, they found the Assassin base under siege by Templar forces. Edward aided the Assassins in their fight, freeing several who had been captured and earning the appreciation of Ah Tabai. However, considering the damage he had caused through negligence, Ah Tabai decreed that Edward was not welcome in Tulum any longer.

Upon his return to Nassau, Edward learned from Charles Vane and Jack Rackham that Governor Torres of Cuba was residing in a fort with a sizable amount of gold that Charles aimed to steal. Undercutting him, Edward quickly sailed to Torres' location and captured the fort.

Inquiring about Roberts, Edward learned that the Sage had been captured by a Kingston-based slaver name Laurens Prins, who was ransoming him to the Templars. Edward decided to use the opportunity to reach Roberts himself, and coerced Torres into aiding him. When they arrived in Kingston, Edward started to tail Torres, only to discover James Kidd was also pursuing Prins, intending to assassinate him.

Reluctantly, James agreed to Edward's request not to assassinate Torres and Prins until they had uncovered the Sage's location. Despite being detected, the two eventually tracked Prins down to his manor in the north of the city. Edward agreed to aid James in the infiltration and the assassination of Prins. James, noticing that they would not be able to get far through stealth alone against such a heavily guarded complex, elected to act as a distraction. Removing her bandanna and reddening her lips, James revealed herself to be a woman.

Edward quickly overcame his confusion and, using "James'" distraction, snuck into the manor's gardens and assassinated Prins. Moments later, Edward was surprised to find Roberts free from confinement and holding "James" at gunpoint. Roberts revealed that he was working for Prins, but was not surprised to hear about his betrayal. Shooting the alarm bell, Roberts made his escape, followed shortly by his two would-be rescuers.

Escaping Prins' property and regrouping with "James", Edward requested her real name; she told him it was Mary Read, and that if he informed anyone of her true identity, she would "unman" him.

The following year, in 1718, word reached Nassau of a general pardon for all pirates being issued by Woodes Rogers – the new Governor of the Bahamas. Thatch and Hornigold disagreed on how they should address the situation; the former favored the use of force to keep the Pirate Republic alive, the latter a period of quiet to turn prying eyes away from Nassau. Hornigold stated that without proper care, including medicine for the sick, Nassau was not worth attempting to save. Edward agreed and elected to procure some medicine in a way that did not draw British attention. Remembering the storm that sunk the Spanish Treasure Fleet, he suggested searching the wrecks for any medicine that might have survived.

Edward purchased a diving bell and met with Thatch at the site of the sinking; unfortunately, the medicine had not survived three years at the bottom of the ocean. Enraged, Thatch left but was shortly pursued by Edward.

Soon enough, Edward learned that Thatch had attacked a British Man O' War in an attempt to gain some medicine, and was now in trouble. Sailing the Jackdaw to his location, Edward managed to relieve Thatch of his predicament. Although the amount of medicine they procured was pitiful, Edward suggested they travel to Charles-Towne - whose stamp adorned the medicine crates – to retrieve the whole lot.

One month later, the two met near Charles-Towne, where Edward was shocked to see Queen Anne's Revenge brazenly offshore with hostages aboard. Thatch revealed that he had spent eight days there, waiting for the medicine to be delivered, but that the crew he had sent ashore a week before to retrieve it had not been heard from since. Edward set out to retrieve the medicine personally.

After discreetly guiding the Jackdaw through the bayou, Edward snuck ashore and forcefully obtained the key to the storeroom holding the medicines. He returned to Queen Anne's Revenge with two crates, as well as the means to make more. Thatch congratulated him, but then revealed he would not be returning to Nassau, instead choosing to retire while he still had time to enjoy it.

Shortly after his return to Nassau, the city was blockaded by the Royal Navy; Woodes Rogers came ashore to publicly announce the general pardon being offered to the pirates but warned that for the time being they were restricted to the island regardless of their answer. Hornigold and his crew elected to accept the pardon, whilst Vane angrily rebuked it.

Meeting with Vane, Edward decided the time had come to leave Nassau. He proposed using a fireship to ram the British blockade and went to gather the gunpowder while Vane retrieved the pine pitch.

After procuring the gunpowder, Edward returned to Vane, who was still in the process of retrieving the pitch. While there, the two overheard that Rogers' associate, Commodore Peter Chamberlaine, had decided to ignore the Governor's orders and was set to destroy the pirate fleet that very night. Vane suggested Edward kill the Commodore before he could order the attack. Edward agreed, made his way to the Commodore's warship, and assassinated him.

With Chamberlaine dead, the pirates made their move. Launching the fireship at the British fleet, they punched a hole in the blockade and escaped the area, heading for Kenway's base in Great Inagua.

Meeting with Read in Great Inagua, Edward stated his intentions to try and bring Thatch back to the West Indies. He then set sail for Ocracoke, where Thatch had retired to, in order to make the attempt.

When he arrived, he found Vane angrily giving up on his attempts to bring Thatch back to the Pirate Republic; Edward reluctantly accepted that Thatch had no intention of returning, and instead decided to help him celebrate his retirement. As a parting gift, Thatch informed Edward that he had learned about a man named "Roberts", who was working on a slave ship called Princess. Edward gratefully accepted the information, but soon spotted a local man acting suspiciously.

Edward followed the man through the outlying jungle until he had met with a British officer. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Edward heard the two discussing Thatch's reputation. Eventually, they reached a clearing overlooking the village and one of the men launched a flare. Within moments, a nearby British fleet bombarded Ocracoke with mortars, destroying the town and many of the ships in the docks. Edward hurriedly made his way back to the Jackdaw, where he once again met with Thatch, and the two attempted to escape.

They succeeded in disabling and boarding the attacking Man O' War but were soon overwhelmed. Thatch was surrounded and decapitated by the British, whilst a shocked Edward, who had tried and failed to fight his way to Thatch's aid, was thrown overboard. Shaken, Edward returned to the Jackdaw and eventually fought his way free of the attacking fleet.

Edward returned to Great Inagua and, disheartened, informed Vane of Thatch's death. Soon enough, a decision was made to pursue the Princess and learn the location of the Observatory. As such, both Edward and Vane traveled south in search of a slave ship.

Once that had located one, both the Ranger and the Jackdaw launched their attack. Quickly overcoming the vessel and capturing its captain, they learned that the Princess regularly sailed out of Kingston. However, before their next move could be decided, Vane and Edward found themselves surrounded by Jack Rackham and the rest of the mutinying crew.

The two were marooned on the island of Isla Providencia. After a few months, Vane grew distrustful and nonsensical, blaming Edward for all their troubles and threatening to kill him. Vane fled, and Edward pursued him into the jungle before being surprised by a stack of muskets and grenades Vane had happened upon.

Sneaking through the ruins, Edward managed to get behind Vane and disarmed him, before leaving him alone on the island. Upon his return to shore, Edward took advantage of the timely arrival of a fishing schooner and used it to return to Great Inagua. There he found Mary Read and Adéwalé waiting, an incarcerated Rackham in tow and the Jackdaw safely docked.

Edward returned to his pursuit of Roberts. With Adéwalé's help, he learned that the Princess was due in Kingston soon and that Governor Torres was in the city with Hornigold in attendance. Listening in on their conversation, Edward learned that Hornigold had sent one of his ships to Príncipe, where Roberts had last been seen. Hornigold then spotted the Jackdaw in the harbor and deduced that Edward had been following them. Edward came out of hiding to berate Hornigold for his betrayal, whereupon he was beset by Torres' soldiers. Not wanting to waste time, Edward escaped the soldiers who engaged him and, upon his return to the Jackdaw, set course for Africa.

Months later, Edward and his crew arrived in Príncipe to find the crew of the Princess dead or captured by Hornigold's Templar associates, Josiah Burgess and John Cockram. As Edward searched the remains of their encampment, he came upon Roberts in hiding there. After a tense discussion, Edward and Roberts made a deal; Edward would kill the Templars and free the crew of the Princess in return for Roberts leading him to the Observatory. Edward then completed his end of the bargain, assassinating Burgress and Cockram.

Taking possession of the Man O' War Royal Fortune, Bartholomew Roberts named himself captain and arranged to meet with Edward near the Observatory, back in the West Indies.

In 1719, Edward met with Roberts off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, but soon discovered he had been followed by Hornigold. Edward gave chase and disabled Hornigold's ship, forcing it to the beach on a nearby island. Going ashore, Edward managed to evade Hornigold's crew and several British sailors, sneaking behind his old friend before assassinating him. The two had a brief, angry exchange as to the nature of Hornigold's betrayal before he succumbed to his wounds. Edward then returned to Roberts at Cape Long and together, the two traveled inland toward the Observatory.

Roberts led Edward to an island heavily guarded by indigenous guardians whose presence made it impossible for the crew to reach the Observatory. Roberts directed Edward to clear a path, which he did successfully, leading them to a black geometric structure. Roberts identified the building as the Observatory, then promptly killed the crew, leaving Edward to carry a crate of blood vials inside.

Roberts explained the true nature of the Observatory, with its ability to project what the target was seeing in real-time, but requiring a sample of the target's blood kept in a blood vial to properly function. To explain, Roberts inserted a vial containing the blood of Jack Rackham, who was currently overhearing James Kidd's attempt to recruit Anne Bonny into the life of piracy. He then inserted the cube containing the blood of Woodes Rogers, who was discussing the Observatory with Torres.

Edward quickly realized the true reason for the Templars' interest in the Observatory: with just the tiniest amount of blood from each member of the British, Spanish and French governments, the Templars would be able to spy on, blackmail and effectively rule these Imperial governments from behind a veil. However, Edward's interest still laid in financial gain, and he expressed excitement that he and Roberts could rule the high seas using the crystal skull. However, he was quickly struck by Roberts, who had no further use for him with the guardians neutralized. Roberts then left, sealing Edward within the facility.

Edward eventually managed to locate a passage out of the complex, but in his escape impaled himself on a sharpened branch and fell from atop a waterfall. Reaching the beach, he stumbled toward Roberts but was too weak to defend himself against the man's crew. An amused Roberts then told him that the Jackdaw had fled, and he decided to take advantage of the large bounty on Kenway's head, turning him over to the British.

In 1721, after months of imprisonment, Edward was made to witness the sentencing of Mary and Anne for the crimes of piracy, though the two managed to stave their execution by announcing that they were pregnant.

Edward was approached by Torres and Rogers, who offered him his freedom in exchange for the location of the Observatory, though they warned him that they could only stay his eventual execution for so long. Edward refused and was then returned to a gibbet. Four months later, Edward was freed by Ah Tabai, who had traveled to Port Royal in order to free Mary and Anne. He offered to ensure Edward's safe passage from the prison should he aid in their rescue, an offer Edward readily accepted.

Edward infiltrated the prison and, after a brief visit to both Jack Rackham's gibbeted body and a delirious Charles Vane in a prison cell, succeeded in finding Mary and Anne and assassinating the guards posted at their cells. However, Mary had grown ill due to giving birth in the prison's unsanitary conditions; despite Edward's attempts to carry her to freedom, she could not make the escape. Asking Edward to make amends for his past and change the course of his future, she died within the prison walls, and Edward carried her body to the shore.

Edward handed Mary over to Ah Tabai, who stated that while he still had not earned them, the Assassin robes Edward had taken from Walpole many years before suited him. He then returned the outfit to Edward before departing with the pregnant Anne.

Edward fell into a deep state of despair, drinking heavily and hallucinating. In his hallucinations, Edward was beset by apparitions of Rogers, Roberts, Caroline, and Mary, among others. The former two mocked him, and Caroline and Mary berated his lust for gold and personal glory over anything else. Eventually, he awoke near the Kingston docks, hungover. Standing over him was Adéwalé, who returned the Jackdaw to his care, resigned as his quartermaster and urged Edward to travel to Tulum.

When Edward arrived at Tulum, Adéwalé confirmed his resignation as his quartermaster, stating his distaste for working with a man so obsessed with his own gain. He stated he joined the Assassins to pursue a more worthy cause. Edward agreed, reflecting on the fact that despite his wealth, he had lost everyone he cared about in its pursuit. He then appealed to Ah Tabai to help him make amends for his past misdeeds, as per Mary's final request.

After a brief conversation between the two about the Order, Tulum was once again beset by Spanish Templars. Despite Ah Tabai's reservations, he realized that Mary had seen something in Edward, and so chose to place his trust in the man. Handing the aspiring Assassin a set of rope darts, Ah Tabai and Edward worked together to clear the jungle of Spanish troops, before Edward snuck aboard their Galleon and assassinated the captain.

With the attack repelled, Edward, Adéwalé and Ah Tabai discussed their next move: the removal of Rogers, Roberts, and Torres. In the interim, Edward sought out the company of Anne, with whom he found camaraderie in the wake of their friends' deaths. He eventually offered her the position of quartermaster in Adéwalé's absence, which she accepted.

Traveling to Kingston, Edward and Anne visited the Bureau leader Antó to inquire about Rogers' location. Antó suggested that Edward infiltrate a party Rogers was hosting in the guise of an Italian diplomat. Edward agreed and obtained the disguise he needed.

Sufficiently disguised, Edward entered the party and, as Rogers passed, struck him with his Hidden Blade from a bench. Before he left, Edward pried from Rogers the location of Bartholomew Roberts: Príncipe.

Once more, Edward traveled to Africa in pursuit of Roberts, through the very same stronghold that had held his target captive years before. Roberts attempted to flee aboard the Royal Fortune, but the ship was soon disabled by the Jackdaw and boarded.

On board, Roberts and Kenway fought one another, with Edward emerging victorious after impaling Roberts with a rope dart. Remorsefully, Roberts remarked that perhaps Edward was indeed the one she had sought and that he wished he had only had time to open the door to the Temple. He then died, requesting his body be destroyed to prevent the Templars from acquiring it before Edward could gain any more answers.

With Roberts dead and the crystal skull that powered the Observatory in-hand, Edward made the return journey to Havana, in order to confront and assassinate Torres. He found the city in lockdown, as Torres had anticipated his arrival. With a drop of Torres' blood, Edward tracked the Grand Master through the city to a fort in the north. Edward infiltrated the fort and assassinated Torres, only to find the man he had slain was a double wearing Torres's clothes. He was then set upon by El Tiburón, Torres right-hand man, and bodyguard, whose blood had resided in the vial under Torres' name.

After a prolonged fight, Edward succeeded in killing El Tiburón and escaped the fort, having deduced that Torres was already on his way to the Observatory and oblivious to the fact that Edward held what he sought.

Returning to the Observatory once more, the Jackdaw fought its way past the Grand Master's escort and its captain went ashore.

Edward, accompanied by Anne, again made his way through the jungle, eliminating the Grand Master's soldiers and freeing those Guardians that had been captured, before entering the Observatory. Inside, he was set upon by the Templars but made full use of the complex's defenses, which had activated in responses to the Crystal Skull's removal, to dispose of them. Freerunning his way through the facility's ever-changing and disjointed architecture, Edward managed to reach Torres and struck him down.

As he lay dying, Torres reminded Edward that he ended up a man with nothing. Edward retorted that killing Torres righted his own wrongs and criticized the Templars' goal of controlling humanity. With his last breath, Torres expressed his respect for Edward's convictions. With the Templar Grand Master dead and the Observatory returned to normal, Edward returned to the central device to find Ah Tabai, Adéwalé, and Anne waiting for him. Together they returned the Crystal Skull to its rightful place and vowed to seal the Observatory once more.

Ah, Tabai then suggested Edward aid in the search for the missing blood vials, which had been removed since Edward's last visit. Edward agreed but stated that he would return home to mend his relationship with Caroline first. Remorsefully, Ah Tabai handed Edward a letter which had arrived from England a week past. The letter stated that Caroline had died two years prior to smallpox and her father's negligence, and revealed that Edward had a daughter, Jennifer Scott

By October, Edward eventually arranged for Jennifer to be brought from England to Great Inagua, and gifted the island to the Assassins for use as a base, an offer gladly accepted by Ah Tabai. Adéwalé revealed that, despite his wounds, Rogers had survived and returned to England, broke but no less of a threat. Edward vowed to deal with him once he had time. Edward invited Anne to return to London with him, but she refused the offer, also claiming she didn't possess the conviction to remain with the Assassins. However, Anne did tell Edward that she considered him a good man and felt he could prove himself a good father in time as well.

Shortly thereafter, a brig carrying the young Jennifer arrived in port, and Edward went to meet her.

Sometime later, Edward remarried and conceived a son, Haytham Kenway. The post-credits scene shows Edward, Jennifer, and Haytham attending The Beggar's Opera at the Theatre Royal.

 **I killed John Standish** (1975 – 2013) was a Sage and a member of the Instruments of the First Will. In order to effect the First Will's plans, John operated as an Assassin-insider at Abstergo Entertainment.

As the head of the IT department at Abstergo Entertainment's Montreal facility, John had access to all of the building's security and infrastructure systems. However, even with this access, he used other employees to retrieve sensitive information for him, as a way to mask his involvement. I destroyed the body of John Standish.


	7. Chapter 7

Desmond Miles POV

Assassin's Creed 4 Freedom Cry

I relived the life of Adéwalé in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertaiments Montreal facility. In 1735, Adéwalé was captain of the brig _Victoire_. He was tasked with eliminating a French admiral and Templar, whose ship was passing by Saint-Domingue. The _Victoire_ engaged the French galleon and disabled it. Boarding the ship, Adéwalé assassinated the admiral and obtained a parcel meant for Bastienne Josèphe, which contained an artifact known as the Precursor box. Shortly thereafter, the _Victoire_ was surrounded by a French fleet and forced to flee through an approaching storm in order to escape.

Despite her crew escaping in time, the _Victoire_ was wrecked and Adéwalé found himself washed ashore near the town of Port-au-Prince. It was here that he found himself confronted once again with the realities of the slave trade, which was increasingly prevalent in the French colony.

Locating the contact, Adéwalé was directed to the headquarters of the Maroon rebellion; upon his arrival, he found the resistance fighters being cut down by a contingent of overseers who had managed to locate them. Adéwalé killed the overseers and managed to prevent any from escaping with knowledge of the hideout's location. Dieufort then offered the Assassin new equipment and upgrades in exchange for helping liberate any slaves he could before returning to the moments of waking, Adéwalé was forced to save a fleeing slave from her pursuing overseer, cutting him down with a machete found on the beach. Saved, the woman told Adéwalé where he could find Bastienne, the Madame of a local brothel, the La Dame en Rose. Upon locating her, Adéwalé was reluctant to hand over the Templar parcel, and so she directed him to find Augustin Dieufort, who could be found by speaking with her contact on a nearby plantation.

With the aid of a number of recently freed slaves, Dieufort convinced Adéwalé to capture a docked slave ship, the _Experto Crede_ , in order to free the slaves held beneath its deck en-masse. After completing the task, Adéwalé claimed the ship as his own, after which he agreed to train Dieufort, his new quartermaster, in the ways of navigation and sailing so that he might captain the ship following Adéwalé's departure.

Adéwalé was intrigued; as a sailor, the knowledge of navigation fascinated him, and he knew well that if the Assassins possessed such information, they would hold a significant advantage over their Templar rivals. Bastienne, however, was disgruntled with what little Adéwalé had learned about the expedition, and dismissed him.[3]Returning to Bastienne, Adéwalé was tasked with infiltrating Governor Pierre de Fayet's mansion, in order find out why the governor had recently become so strict in his enforcement of the Code Noir. Infiltrating the manor's grounds disguised as a slave, Adéwalé discovered that the governor had hired a scientist named Louis Godin to map the circumference of the Earth, so as to provide the French with accurate geographical knowledge far surpassing that of its national rivals.

Eventually, Bastienne's anger subsided. In order to help the Maroon and fulfill her promise to Augustin, she supplied a forged manifest listing the names of three literate slaves, with which the expedition needed to take notes. Adéwalé swapped the manifest and saw the French merchant ship, the _Vautour_ , off from port. He quickly noticed the waiting pirate fleet however, and was forced to defend the expedition ship from them.

Two years after Adéwalé's arrival, the French were in a panic over the increasingly strong Maroon resistance, and the number of slaves being liberated by them. The French began to impose stricter curfews, as well as harsher and more frequent punishments. Adéwalé considered this a small price to pay, however, for the ultimate goal of Maroon independence. Angry, he left Port-au-Prince and set to sea in order to liberate another slave ship. This time however, the ship's French escort opened fire on her, disabling the ship and forcing her into a slow sink.

Adéwalé unchaining the slavesAdéwalé went aboard the severely damaged ship and rescued as many slaves as he could. Eventually, the ship sank with Adéwalé still below deck, and he was forced to swim and climb his way through the vertical ship in order to escape.

On nearby Cumberland Bay, Adéwalé joined Augustin and Bastienne in burying those slaves that had not escaped the vessel's sinking. Adéwalé vowed to kill de Fayet, claiming his Creed demanded it, and that it would give an entire generation of warriors hope.

In 1737, Adéwalé located the French governor on the grounds of his manor, torturing slaves in order to locate the Maroon hideout and the man freeing the slaves - Adéwalé. As he approached, Adéwalé was spotted and the governor fled through town.

Despite the overwhelming number of French soldiers and overseers in pursuit, Adéwalé eventually caught up with the governor and killed him with the very branding iron he had previously used to torture his slaves.

With de Fayet dead, Adéwalé was forced to leave Port-au-Prince, since remaining would call both his own safety and the safety of the Maroons into question. Before leaving, he said goodbye to Bastienne and finally gave her the package. He decided he must devote his energy to those who struggle for freedom, using his conviction in his Creed to defend them along with anyone who helped him.

The **Phoenix Project** is an Abstergo Industries initiative, aiming to sequence the Isu's triple-helix genome and explore the genetic memories encoded within through the Animus.

The project began in the late 2013, following the death of the Sage John Standish at the Abstergo Entertainment office in Montreal. Following the examination of a blood vial and discovering precursor DNA, Abstergo set out to locate genetic records of Sages both past and present, in order to use their high concentration of First Civilization DNA as a basis for cloning the Isu's back into existence. They also hope to better understand the precursor technology.

In October 2014, I destroyed the Phoenix Project facility in Paris, France. I destroyed all samples of Precursor DNA at the Phoenix Project facility in Paris, France. I destroyed all clones of John Standish at the Phoenix Project facility in Paris, France. I recovered the Shroud of Eden 1 from the Phoenix Project facility in Paris, France.


	8. Chapter 8

Assassin's Creed Rogue

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Shay Cormac in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertainments Montreal facility. In 1752, while on a mission in the North Atlantic, Shay and Liam came across their comrade Louis-Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye, who was supposed to meet with smugglers carrying valuable cargo. When the smugglers were intercepted and captured by the Royal Navy, Shay infiltrated the smugglers' camp, eliminated the British guards, and commandeered their ship, a sloop-of-war named the Morrigan.

Shortly after, Shay and Liam returned to the Davenport Homestead, headquarters of the Colonial Assassins, where they witnessed the arrival of Adéwalé, a member of the Caribbean branch of the Order. While Adéwalé convened with Achilles and discussed the earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince a year prior, Shay trained under the guidance of Liam, Hope Jensen, and Kesegowaase, before meeting with Achilles to receive a new mission, which entailed tracking down and acquisition of two First Civilization artifacts stolen by the Templars in Haiti: the Precursor box and the Manuscript.

After meeting with Chevalier de la Vérendrye and his informant, Le Chasseur, Shay traveled to Mount Vernon, home of a noted Templar, Lawrence Washington, to intercept a package. Having recovered an air rifle from the shipment, Shay infiltrated the grounds of Washington's manor and witnessed a meeting between Lawrence and three other Templars: Samuel Smith, James Wardrop, and Jack Weeks. Lawrence assigned Smith and Wardrop to guard the box and the manuscript, respectively, before dismissing them. As Washington walked about the grounds of his manor in the midst of a garden party, Shay managed to blend in and assassinate him; as Shay and Liam made their escape, Shay expressed both disappointment and guilt for killing Lawrence, who was already suffering from a terminal case of tuberculosis.

A few months later, Shay tracked down Samuel Smith at sea, who attempted to escape with the Precursor box in his possession. Although Smith's schooner led the Morrigan into a skirmish and attempted to deter the pursuers with burning oil, Shay gave chase and eventually assassinated Smith in his camp at Terra Nova, and recovered the artifact.

In 1754, as tensions between the French and British forces escalated to the brink of war, Shay traveled to Albany, New York, to eliminate James Wardrop. After observing William Johnson and Benjamin Franklin conversing at the Albany Congress, Shay headed to Fort Frederick to assassinate Wardrop and retrieve the Voynich manuscript, disregarding Wardrop's claims that he was endangering the world.

With both artifacts in his possession, Shay and Hope enlisted the aid of Franklin to activate the devices. After reassembling Franklin's lighting-to-battery assembly, Shay watched as the electrical charge powered the box, projecting a holographic display of the globe with a shimmering light over the site of a First Civilization Temple in Lisbon, Portugal. Relaying this information back to Achilles, Shay was tasked with traveling to Lisbon to investigate the Temple and retrieve the Piece of Eden held within.

Arriving in Europe in 1755, Shay set out for the Carmo Convent in the heart of Lisbon. As the priest conducted mass inside, Shay activated several mechanisms at the convent's apex, opening a passage to the Temple hidden beneath. He then entered the Temple and approached the Piece of Eden – which appeared as a shining, star-shaped artifact suspended above a pedestal – and removed it from its place. However, disturbing the artifact from its stationary position caused it to disintegrate, and triggered a massive earthquake. As Shay emerged from the Temple, he hurriedly made his way through the collapsing city as civilians and buildings fell around him. In a swift but fortunate motion, Shay was able to make his escape and leap into the sea; he then swam back to his ship and sailed for the Thirteen Colonies.

Upon his return to the Homestead, Shay stormed into the manor and accused Achilles of sending him on the mission while aware of the chaos that taking the Piece could cause, recounting that the earthquake in Haiti happened shortly after François Mackandal sent Vendredi, one of his men, into a First Civilization Temple which Mackandal had discovered. Although Achilles insisted he knew nothing about the possibility of triggering a disaster, Shay maintained that he had been made to slaughter hundreds of innocents on Achilles' command.

Refusing to serve under a man who would brush off such destruction and loss of life, Shay resolved to steal the manuscript to prevent the Assassins from finding other Temples. Sneaking into the manor that night, Shay took the artifact and was about to make his escape before he was confronted by Achilles. When the Mentor tried to stop him, a struggle ensued, during which Shay was thrown outside through a broken window.

With the Assassins hunting him across the Homestead grounds, Shay made his way to a cliff overlooking the bay but was cornered by the remaining members of the Brotherhood. As he attempted to leap into the water below, one of the Assassins shot Shay in the left shoulder from behind, which caused him to fall off the ledge; Shay was led to believe it had been Liam who shot him. Due to this turn of events, the Assassins thought Shay dead and the manuscript lost, though his unconscious form was rescued and placed in the care of Barry and Cassidy Finnegan by a Templar, Colonel George Monro.

Some weeks later, Shay awoke in a house in New York, where he was being nursed back to health by the Finnegans. When their home was attacked by members of a local gang, Shay came to their rescue and drove the bandits out. Since his clothes were ruined during the fall, Cassidy presented him with an outfit which belonged to Finnegans' late son, while Barry returned Shay's weapons to him. Leaving the house, Shay apprehended one of the gang members and learned the location of their hideout.

Infiltrating the compound, Shay cut down the gang's flag and killed their leader, driving the bandits out of the district and restoring order. He was then approached by Colonel George Monro, who introduced himself as a friend of the Finnegans. As the pair walked through New York, Monro subtly explained the Templar philosophy to Shay, while not revealing his allegiance to the Order. When Shay returned to the Finnegans' home and discussed the next move in his fight against the gangs, Monro directed asked him to prevent the execution of Christopher Gist, one of Monro's allies that the gangs had captured and planned to hang.

Shay managed to save Gist's life and kill the gang members present, taking their headquarters as his own. Following on from this, Shay noticed a ship anchored near the gang's hideout, which he discovered to his surprise to be that of his former vessel, the Morrigan. Gist suggested reclaiming the ship and helped Shay eliminate the remaining gang members in the area, as well as the Assassin stalkers who worked with them. Gist then gathered his allies in the neighborhood to crew the Morrigan and applied for the position of the vessel's first mate, an offer which Shay readily accepted. The two then set sail, heading for Albany to meet with Colonel Monro.

Meeting with Monro at the Albany docks, Shay learned that a nearby French fort was disrupting Colonel's operations in the area, as well as posing a potential threat to the region's safety. After raiding a nearby warehouse to gain the items necessary to reinforce the Morrigan, Shay attacked the fort and destroyed its defenses. Fighting his way through the compound, Shay entered the war room and found Le Chasseur, armed and waiting for him. The two dueled, with Shay emerging victorious, and Le Chasseur revealed that a group of criminals in New York was creating a poison gas they planned to use against the colonial authorities. Determined to stop the criminals, Shay headed back to the city.

Finding Monro once again, Shay shared what he had learned with the Colonel, who in turn told him that a certain woman had been directing criminal operations in the city, including the production of large batches of poison which was to be used against the civilian population. Monro also told Shay that Benjamin Franklin was developing certain weapons for the unknown woman, and suggested that Shay visit the inventor.

Franklin was surprised to see Shay when he arrived but did not question him when Shay claimed to have come to collect the results of Franklin's experiments. To this, Franklin gave him a prototype grenade launcher, which Shay used to destroy the compressors containing poisonous gas in the industrial district and halt the production completely.

After finishing the task, Shay met with Monro and Gist on a nearby rooftop, where they agreed Shay's actions had saved countless lives. While they observed the destroyed factory, Jack Weeks and William Johnson joined them and congratulated Shay on his work before the group went to a nearby tavern to celebrate their success. Over the course of the next year, Shay assisted the Colonel, and by extension the Templars, in a variety of ways, proving himself a worthy candidate to recruit into the ranks of the Order.

In August 1757, Shay received a package from Colonel Monro. Inside, he found the Manuscript and a letter from the Colonel. From what was written, Shay learned of Monro's involvement in his rescue and recuperation, following Shay's defection from the Brotherhood, and the fact the Colonel was tasked by the Grand Master of the Colonial Rite of the Templar Order with decoding the manuscript, a task at which he had failed. Reading on, Shay learned of Monro's assignment to Fort William Henry and the dire conditions the Colonel faced there.

An alliance between the French Army and the Abenaki threatened the safety of the fort, and William Johnson's reinforcements had never arrived to assist Monro's troops. Suspecting Kesegowaase to be involved in the alliance, Shay set sail for Monro's location. Arriving, he found Jack Weeks, who had been waiting for Johnson's reinforcements at the shore, and pointed Shay in the direction of Monro's division, patrolling in the wilderness.

Fighting off French troops and Assassin stalkers, Shay met the Colonel and escorted him to the safety of the Morrigan. As the ship cast off, Kesegowaase appeared on the shore, enraged that Shay had survived and allied himself with the Templars. Before the Assassin could leap onto the Morrigan's deck, Weeks threw a barrel of gunpowder onto the dock, which Shay detonated with a gunshot, scarring Kesegowaase's face. Having saved Monro, Shay turned his attention to Johnson's regiment beset by French forces, and the Oneida tribe whose village had been attacked and captured by an Assassin-allied gang. Shay managed to assist both parties, strengthening Monro's army, and allowing the Colonel to travel back to Albany and protect the town from the impending French attack.

Sometime later, Shay arrived to find the city under siege by the French Army and their native allies. Making his way through the town, Shay reached the fort as Monro fought off a wave of attackers. Spotting Kesegowaase, Shay chased and dueled the Assassin, mortally wounding him with a mounted Puckle gun. As Kesegowaase died, he scorned Shay's conversion to the Templars, commenting that they would fail in time and that Monro was already dead. When Shay questioned him further, Kesegowaase merely uttered "Liam", before collapsing.

Fearing for the Colonel's life, Shay made his way to the docks and was told by Monro's soldiers that their commander was trapped inside, to which Shay ran into the burning building and carried a wounded Monro outside. In his final moments, the Colonel told Shay that Liam had taken the manuscript, before removing his Templar ring and entrusting it to Shay, before succumbing to his wounds.

Following this, Shay was inducted into the Colonial Rite by its Grand Master, Haytham Kenway, with Christopher Gist, Jack Weeks, William Johnson, and Charles Lee present at the ceremony. Afterward, Shay informed Haytham of the Precursor sites and his belief that Achilles would recklessly endanger innocents by his continuous pursuit of the Temples.

Shay traveled to the north Atlantic to meet with a Royal Navy captain, James Cook and was given leave to use Cook's Man O' War, the HMS Pembroke, to halt the advance of the French Navy. During the battle, Adéwalé aided the French with his brig, the Experto Crede, by leading several fireships towards the HMS Pembroke. Shay followed Gist's advice to focus on the fireships, allowing the Experto Crede to slip away, just as the Royal Navy ships arrived to combat the French forces.

Eventually, Shay and Haytham managed to track Adéwalé down into the River Valley and forced him to a beach the Experto Crede at Vieille Carrière, after a brief engagement. The two Templars separated, with Haytham choosing to distract Adéwalé, allowing Shay to assassinate him. With his dying breath, Adéwalé told Shay that Achilles already possessed the means to find First Civilization sites.

Shay subsequently traveled to New York, and overheard Achilles and the other Assassins talk about replicating the Franklin experiment on the Precursor box. Determined to stop his former comrades, Shay worked with Jack Weeks to break Hope's control over the city's organized crime. To accomplish this, the pair stole gang uniforms and staged a heist against a military outpost, to give the British a reason to fight the criminals. Shay met with Haytham after the successful heist, just as the Grand Master was interrogating a gang member to discover Hope's location.

Shay managed to infiltrate the mansion in which Hope resided, and bore witness to her successful replication of Franklin's experiment with the Precursor box, prompting Liam to depart and inform Chevalier de la Vérendrye of the First Civilization site's location. As Liam left, Hope detected Shay and shot out the overhead window, causing him to fall into the chamber. She then took away Shay's gas mask and released poisonous vapors into the room while making her escape. Carefully, Shay managed to leave the chamber and spotted Hope outside. However, she shot him with a poison dart that affected his heart rate. To maintain his life, Shay chased Hope across the city, eventually assassinating her and taking the antidote from her body. As he expressed remorse for killing her, Hope revealed that her diversion had bought Chevalier enough time to escape, and lamented on what she saw as Shay's wasted potential in aiding the Templars.

Shay took the Morrigan out into the North Atlantic, where he and Gist met with Captain Cook once again to inquire about Chevalier's whereabouts. At Cook's suggestion, Shay infiltrated the fort on Anticosti Island, stealing Chevalier's maps to figure out where he was headed before heading back to the Morrigan. Bringing the maps to Cook, the Captain was able to pinpoint Chevalier's location. Sailing into a snowstorm, Chevalier's fleet ambushed the Morrigan, but Shay was able to sink the enemy vessels, before boarding Chevalier's ship, the Gerfaut, and assassinating him. However, Chevalier told him that he was merely a decoy for Achilles and Liam, who were on their way to the Precursor site in the Arctic.

Shay reported his findings to Haytham, who joined him on the journey to the Precursor site. As the pair navigated through the ice caves and past the Assassins, an ice bridge collapsed, separating the two and forcing Haytham to find another route to the Temple. Once they had reached their goal, Shay and Haytham came upon Achilles and Liam studying the Piece of Eden, identical to the one Shay had encountered in Lisbon. While Achilles admitted that he was wrong about the artifacts, Liam still condemned Shay for betraying the Brotherhood. In response, Shay accused Liam of shooting him in the back at the Davenport Homestead. Liam clarified Chevalier as the actual shooter that day and prepare to fire at Shay, but was restrained by Achilles. After a brief struggle, Liam fell back onto the artifact, disturbing the Temple and triggering an earthquake. Shay pursued Liam through the collapsing caverns, while Haytham followed Achilles to a clearing outside.

Eventually, as the former comrades fought each other, the precipice under them gave way, causing them to fall. Shay survived the fall, whereas Liam was mortally wounded. With his dying breath, Liam was still firm in his conviction of Shay's betrayal, which the latter justified in attempting to save the world. Liam ironically stated that he hoped the world Shay and the Templars were attempting to save a good one, before passing away. Shay recovered the manuscript from his body and headed back to find Haytham and Achilles.

He eventually came upon Haytham besting Achilles in combat and stopped the Grand Master from delivering a finishing blow to the Mentor, reasoning that Achilles knew then the danger of the Precursor sites, and if he perished, the Assassins would blindly continue their search for the Temples. Reluctantly, Haytham agreed with Shay's reasoning and spared Achilles, but to ensure he would not stand in the way of the Templars anymore, Haytham crippled the Mentor with a shot to the shin. While the Colonial Rite took on the task of purging the remaining Brotherhood, Haytham charged Shay with tracking down and recovering the Precursor box, although Shay admitted their only lead was Chevalier transporting it away from the colonies, and that it could take years for the Templars to find the box again.

In 1776, Shay was present in Paris, France, following the information about the Precursor box being in possession of a French Assassin, Charles Dorian. Shay assisted Benjamin Franklin, who was in France as an ambassador to the French royal court, in escaping from a group of criminals. As a token of gratitude, Franklin provided the means for Shay to enter the Palace of Versailles, although he was unaware of the Templar's real mission, as Shay merely stated he was meeting a business associate.

Having infiltrated the palace, Shay located Charles and assassinated him, recovering the Precursor box in the process. In his dying words, Charles remarked that Connor's Assassins and the American Revolutionary War had thwarted the Templar plans in the New World, though Shay countered this by suggesting that the Templars would stage a revolution of their own to restore the balance of power.

I killed **Melanie Lemay** is the Chief Creative Officer of Abstergo Entertainment, a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries, the Sample 17 Project Supervisor, and a member of the Templar Order. The Sample 17 Project had been cancelled. I destroyed the body of **Melanie Lemay.**


	9. Chapter 9

Assassin's Creed Unity

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Arno Dorian in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertainments Montreal facility. In 1776, Arno accompanied his father in the Palace of Versailles, where Charles was attending a meeting with his fellow Assassins regarding the safety of the Precursor box, a First Civilization artifact recovered from the Colonial Templars years ago. In the palace, Arno met and befriended Élise de la Serre, a young noble girl who also accompanied her father to a meeting with King Louis XVI. During his absence, Arno's father was assassinated by Shay Cormac, who recovered the Precursor box from him.

Following the assassination, Arno was adopted by François de la Serre, the Grand Master of the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order, who kept his allegiance secret from the boy, out of respect for his father and suggestion of her daughter and wife, Julie. Arno was raised alongside Élise, with whom he bonded over the years. However, he remained distraught after the loss of his father, and wrote letters to him upon François' suggestion, in order to cope with his grief.

When Julie fell ill, Élise stopped playing with him and spent her time at her mother's bedside. Arno, who barely knew Julie and was forbidden to enter her room, spent his days alone. François, distraught with his wife, found comfort in being Arno's guardian. He began training the boy, sparring with him and teaching him how to hunt. The Grand Master found hope for the boy to join the Order, and arranged Arno's timetable so he could train with the governor.

Julie's death hardly gave Arno a thought, and was only a mere inconvenience to him since François and Élise stopped playing with him. When Élise was sent to Maison Royale de Saint-Louis school at Saint-Cyr to continue her education, she sent letters to Arno regarding her negative feelings for the students and teachers.

By 1788, Arno moved away from the de la Serre household to the digs of the villages where he spent his days and nights drinking, playing cards and entertaining women. He still kept contact with his surrogate father François and Élise.

One year later, having lost his father's watch in a card game to two brothers, Hugo and Victor, Arno endeavored to steal the memento back, but was discovered. When his pursuers chased him back to the de la Serre mansion, François attempted to mediate the situation, assigning Arno to assist his butler, Olivier, with chores, which entailed cleaning the horses for François' carriage ride to meet Élise.

As François left, a Templar messenger, Perrault, arrived in an attempt to deliver a letter from Chrétien Lafrenière, which Arno volunteered to deliver. Unfortunately, Hugo and Victor cornered him before he could reach François. Though he bested his attackers, he was forced to flee from the guards. Returning to the mansion, Arno decided to slip the letter under the door to François' study, confident that it would be found upon his return.

That evening, Arno infiltrated the Palace of Versailles in order to attend the party held in Élise's honor. After sharing a romantic moment with her, he forced to evade the guards upon being discovered. At the courtyard, Arno came upon a mortally wounded François de la Serre, mistaking his state for intoxication. As François collapsed and Arno rushed to help him, one of the attackers, Charles Gabriel Sivert, called out to the guards, who assumed Arno was responsible for François' death. They subdued the young noble and subsequently imprisoned him in the Bastille.

After his first night in prison, Arno discovered that one of his fellow cellmates, Pierre Bellec, stole his watch and briefly dueled him for it, before drawing attention to the fact that Arno could see the mysterious drawings in Bellec's cell. Bellec then dragged him to the corner, realizing he possessed Eagle Vision. Once Arno introduced himself, Bellec revealed that his father was an Assassin, before returning the watch and offering to train Arno, which proceeded for the following two months of their imprisonment. When the Bastille came under attack from a civil uprising, Arno and Bellec escaped. Before parting ways, Bellec gave Arno a medallion, saying it would lead him to the Assassins, and performed a Leap of Faith from the fortress' battlements. Arno was skeptical to follow, but was forced to follow Bellec in the maneuver, having been cornered by several guards.

Subsequent to his escape, Arno visited Élise, who assumed he was responsible for her father's death. Arno professed his innocence and told Élise about her father's Templar heritage, only to learn that she was aware of it, and was a member of the Templar Order herself. She then showed him the letter he was supposed to deliver at the night of François' murder, which warned him of betrayal from someone within the Parisian Rite. Realizing his negligence played a larger part in the events than he had previously believed, Arno left the mansion afterward.

Wracked with guilt and blaming himself, Arno sought out the Assassins, discovering their headquarters underneath the Sainte-Chapelle. He was then inducted into the Brotherhood and vowed to hunt down François' murderers to redeem himself for his failures.

One of his earliest missions with the Brotherhood was to protect Théroigne de Méricourt during the Women's March on Versailles.

Two years later, Arno joined Bellec in tracking down Sivert, but Bellec chose to acquire a ledger of Templar records rather than assassinate Sivert, since they were not assigned to kill him. When they reported to the Council, Bellec criticized the Mentor Mirabeau's truce with the Templars, and the rest of the Council agreed that the new Grand Master would not keep the truce. Arno managed to gain Bellec and the Council's blessing to assassinate Sivert after learning his secrets.

Arno surveyed Sivert's meeting place at Notre-Dame and determined weak points he could exploit. He proceeded to retrieve the building keys from the thieves who took them and assassinated Sivert's accomplice, Duchesneau, in order to take his place in the confessional booth where Duchesneau and Sivert was supposed to meet. Posing as Sivert's accomplice, Arno received information about the Templars' manipulations against the corruption of the church. Once Sivert had revealed all he knew, Arno stabbed Sivert in the throat with his Hidden Blade, killing him instantly. In that moment, Arno saw Sivert's memories and learned he had a partner-in-crime on the night of François' murder, the Roi des Thunes, who struck the killing blow. Having learned this, Arno returned to the Council to report his findings. When he requested permission to hunt down le Roi des Thunes, he was given a Phantom Blade.

On 19 January 1791, Arno arrived at the Cour des Miracles and singled out le Roi des Thunes' lieutenant, Aloys la Touche, who was in the process of amputating a young man's right foot. Before Arno could intervene, the Marquis de Sade casually introduced himself and advised Arno not to lash out so hastily, suggesting instead that the Assassin follow la Touche back to his master. Reciprocating this, Arno tailed la Touche back to his residence and interrogated him, eventually trapping la Touche in shackles. Arno proceeded to infiltrate the Roi des Thunes' lair, just as la Touche had freed himself to warn Arno's target of the impending danger. Nevertheless, Arno proceeded to assassinate the Roi des Thunes, learning of the Roi de Thunes' motive for assassinating de la Serre from his memories, and that he and Sivert did so under the orders of their new Grand Master.

Returning to the surface, Arno discovered that the Marquis de Sade had immediately superseded the position of the Roi des Thunes. As Arno turned to leave, de Sade produced the poisoned pin that killed de la Serre, to which he identified a silversmith named François-Thomas Germain. After tracking down and rescuing the silversmith, Germain claimed that a man named Lafrenière commissioned it, and confirmed Arno's statement of Lafrenière being a Templar.

With this, Arno tracked down and assassinated Chrétien Lafrenière, only to learn that he had penned the letter to de la Serre, warning the former Grand Master of the eventual betrayal within the Order. Arno reported his findings to the Council, who were outraged that he had assassinated Lafrenière without their consent. However, when Arno mentioned that Lafrenière was planning on attacking the Hôtel de Beauvais, and not an Assassin base, the Council sent him to investigate the meeting.

Infiltrating the hotel, Arno eavesdropped on the meeting of a group of Templars, led by an unknown figure plotting to eliminate Élise; Arno subsequently escaped the hotel and managed to save Élise from the Templar ambush at the Hôtel Voysin. Following this, Arno rendezvoused with her at the Café Théâtre, where he offered to help Élise avenge her father. To this end, he proceeded to bring a blindfolded Élise before the Assassin Council where, despite the hostility from the Assassins – particularly Bellec – Mirabeau was more inclined to parley with her.

When Arno arrived at Mirabeau's estate, he found the Mentor poisoned. Suspecting someone was attempting to pin the blame on Élise, Arno tracked down the apothecary and discovered that Pierre Bellec killed Mirabeau, believing that no peace could be achieved between the two factions, and that he was purging the Brotherhood to remake it into a stronger organization, similar to how Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and Connor had done so. He attempted to convince Arno to join his cause, but Arno refused, and was forced to fight his former teacher.

Arno managed to gain the upper hand in the fight, and was forced to kill Bellec when he tried to kill Élise. Before dying, Bellec commended Arno for defeating him, and urged Arno to finish him off, otherwise he would never stop. Once Bellec died from his wounds, Arno paid him his final rites.

As a lesser punishment for allowing two Master Assassins to die, the Council assigned Arno to "fetch and carry work." However, he did aid his fellow Assassins in aiding Théroigne de Méricourt against the Templar Flavigny's attempts to cause a food shortage.

In August 1792, he was ordered to infiltrate Palais des Tuileries and destroy Mirabeau's letters to the King there which could compromise the Brotherhood. It was then, that Arno met with Napoleon Bonaparte, who was in turn searching for a First Civilization key. As the palace became swarmed with extremists, Napoleon and his soldiers helped Arno escape through a secret passage, but not before Arno noticed another Templar, Frédéric Rouille. After escaping the palace, Napoleon provided Arno with Rouille's location at the Grand Châtelet prison, allowing Arno to assassinate him.

Arno later joined with Élise to stop Marie Lévesque's plot of hoarding grain in order to turn the middle and lower classes against the King. After assassinating Lévesque, Arno and Élise managed to escape from the Templar extremists using a hot air balloon, before having a romantic moment between them.

Arno subsequently pursued Levesque's accomplice, Louis-Michel le Peletier, with aid from Marquis de Sade. From there, Arno snuck into the cafe le Peletier was dining in and substituted the Templar's wine with a poisoned bottle. Upon its consumption le Peletier was rendered paralyzed, allowing Arno to assassinate him, to which the Assassin learned that le Peletier had cast the tie-breaking vote for the execution of King Louis XVI, and that François-Thomas Germain would be present for the execution.

On 21 January 1793, Arno confronted Germain as the execution was underway, with the latter proclaiming the rebirth of the Templar Order. Germain posited to Arno that the reason for de la Serre's murder was to rid the Templar Order of corruption and bigotry, while also stating that it served only the first phase of the Order's reformation, and that it would be truly reborn with the death of the King.

Germain revealed his plans as Louis XVI was placed at the guillotine. By ridding France's upper class and aristocracy of power, it would be much easier for the Templars to gain control over France, by granting power to the people instead. Once the King was beheaded, François proclaimed that Jacques de Molay had been avenged, then made his escape, leaving Arno to deal with his subordinates. With Élise caught in the fighting, Arno focused more on defending her than pursuing Germain. This displeased Élise, who desired revenge and rejected any further aid from Arno.

Arno met with the Assassin Council to discuss his lead on the Templar Grand Master, however he was directed to the ceremony chamber. Arno attempted to update the Council, but they silenced him and cast judgment on him instead. The Council did not approve of what they believed was a personal vendetta for revenge, brashly killing targets without permission from themselves. They declared that Arno was banished from the Brotherhood and he was no longer welcome, but that he was fortunate they would not punish him further.

Arno left the Sanctuary and Paris to live at the de la Serre estate in Versailles, where he gained a reputation for being a drunkard. In his stupor, he got into a bar fight, ending in his humiliating defeat and the loss of his father's watch to the gang leader. He tracked the gang to the Palais de Versailles, was forced to face the terrible memories of his past, and killed the entire gang, only for Élise to turn up with his watch in hand.

Deducing that she wanted something from him, Arno furiously reopened old wounds from their last fight, stating that he cared more about her than killing Germain and that he wanted to assuage the guilt he felt for causing her father's death. When he allowed Élise to speak, she informed him that Paris had become more chaotic because of Germain. She encouraged him to be the man she loved and return with her to Paris. Arno agreed to come, but only after he assassinated Aloys la Touche, who had sown dissent and fear amongst the populace of Versailles.

During this, he reconciled with and saved his former enemies Victor and Hugo, who were supposed to be sentenced to execution. After assassinating la Touche, Arno discovered that Germain had one final conspirator and mastermind behind the Reign of Terror, Maximilien de Robespierre.

Joining forces with some of his former brothers, Arno helped the Assassins in undermining Robespierre's leadership of the Republic, assassinating General Marcourt, Jacques Roux, and rescuing the spy Didier Paton. They aided the Girondists and attempted to rescue Georges Danton, but he refused. They also prevented a raid on Mirabeau's tomb in the Panthéon.

In 1794, despite the anarchy, Paris was in the middle of a celebration. Élise revealed to Arno that the event was being hosted by Robespierre. Arno insisted on assassinating Robespierre, but Élise suggested a different approach since Robespierre was well-guarded.

After discreetly infiltrating the celebration and locating Robespierre, Élise planned to discredit him in the eyes of the public, allowing her and Arno to kill him easily. Arno agreed and gathered incriminating evidence while Élise poisoned Robespierre's winery with powdered ergot. After Arno planted the evidence on several people, the people turned against Robespierre and arrested him, much to Arno and Élise's surprise.

Despite this, Robespierre broke free of his imprisonment and sought shelter from the last vestiges of his allies in France. Tracking Robespierre down to the Hôtel de Ville, Arno and Élise infiltrated it and cornered him. As he refused to cooperate, Élise shot him in the jaw, to which Robespierre revealed that Germain was located in the Parisian Temple by writing it on parchment. Following this, Arno and Élise arrived at the Temple and infiltrated it, eventually locating Germain. Before Arno could assassinate him, however, Germain used the power of a Sword of Eden against him in combat, before using it to disappear from the chamber.

Arno subsequently managed to find Élise again, and together they entered the Templar crypt in the catacombs, where they once again confronted Germain. While Élise was distracting Germain, Arno attempted to assassinate the Grand Master once more, but failed due to a shield projected by the sword. After three more attempts, Arno managed to break through, but the shock wave trapped him under rubble. Élise came to Arno's aid, but noticed Germain attempting to escape. Despite Arno's protests, Élise left him behind to pursue Germain, but failed to kill the Grand Master.

Élise's sword was broken during the fight, while the Sword of Eden's power was rendered unstable. Arno managed to free himself and rushed to help Élise, but was too late as the Sword of Eden exploded, killing Élise and mortally wounding Germain in the process. In an act of grief, Arno slowly assassinated Germain by stabbing him in the throat with his Hidden Blade. In a vision following his death, Germain explained his struggle of being a Sage, and his beliefs in de Molay's and Élise's unfortunate deaths.

As Germain finally succumbed to his wounds, Arno mournfully carried Élise's body out from the Temple, leaving behind Germain's lifeless body inside.

Arno undertook another mission with his fellow Assassins and Théroigne de Méricourt, attacking the Jacobins' headquarters. Depressed following Élise's death, he took a sabbatical in Franciade, drinking away his sorrows in a local tavern. Eventually he was contacted by de Sade, who asked him to find a manuscript made by Nicolas de Condorcet, hidden in the tomb of Louis IX inside the royal necropolis. During their meeting in the tavern, the Marquis paid Arno's drinking debts and promised him a place on a ship leaving France for Egypt four days later, in exchange for Condorcet's scientific studies.

While searching for the manuscript in the undercity, Arno found out that the manuscript was not in the tomb and that a group of crypt raiders were searching for the entrance of a Temple. After more investigations, he discovered that the manuscript was stolen by a young thief named Léon, and while searching the necropolis for him, Arno found out that he had been captured by the raiders for spying on them.

Hiding, Arno heard that the raiders were led by Philippe Rose and sponsored by Napoleon Bonaparte in order to open the Precursor temple under the Basilica and take the Piece of Eden stored within. Arno then saved the unruly orphan from the raiders and recovered the manuscript, though he was reluctant to involve himself in Bonaparte's affairs, wishing instead to leave France at the earliest opportunity. His resolve softened after visions of Élise and the boy's pleas, as well as the imperious need to save France. Arno eventually decided to stop the raiders from acquiring the artifact before leaving for Egypt.

Finding the location of the Temple and stealing the key from one of Napoleon's officers, Arno was able to open the door leading to it but was ambushed by Rose, who intended to take the artifact for himself. Arno fell into the depths of the necropolis, but survived and managed to reach the Temple before the raiders' leader could take the Piece of Eden.

Arno then killed Rose, recovered the Head of Saint Denis and used its power to repel the numerous raiders and escape the Temple. Later, as agreed, Arno met de Sade in the tavern and gave him Condorcet's manuscript. However, he repaid his drinking debt with a Louis d'or and left without a word, having decided to stay in France. Arno also contacted the Brotherhood, asking them to bring the Apple of Eden contained in the Head of Saint Denis to Al Mualim in Egypt, beyond the reach of Bonaparte.

Now residing in Versailles, Arno was met in September 1794 by the outcast Assassin Bernard Ruddock, an acquaintance of Élise's who had contacted Arno at some point after Élise's death. Ruddock gave Arno a letter that Élise had written in the event of her death, explaining a number of her actions and directing him to find her chest of keepsakes. She only asked that Arno allow Ruddock to keep a pack of letters that she had been given by Jennifer Scott on her trip to London, which would allow Ruddock to gain favor with the Assassin Council and rejoin the Brotherhood.

Arno agreed to honor her wishes, took Ruddock's address and told him he would be in touch once he had obtained the letters and Élise's chest. Arno also agreed that he would endorse any efforts he made to win favor with the Assassins. Arno traveled to the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis where he met Élise's teacher, Frederick Weatherall and was given the chest as promised.

Ruddock had followed Arno and betrayed him, attempting to kill him on the order of the British Templars. However, Ruddock was killed by Weatherall before he could shoot Arno. Arno stayed with Élise's friends during the years following her death, having been invited to stay by her former maid out of respect to her mistress.

By October 1794, Arno had rejoined the Brotherhood and was working again with his brothers, when sixteen years after Rousseau's death, his remains were transferred to the Pantheon. As it passed through Franciade, the procession carrying the ashes of the philosopher to Paris was attacked by raiders hired by a mysterious benefactor, but the plot was foiled and the raiders eliminated by Arno and another Assassin. At some point, Arno earned the rank of Master Assassin.

During the following years while undergoing several missions for the Brotherhood, Arno also tried to honor Elise's last will of reducing the gap between the Templars and Assassins. He also frequently visited Élise's grave, and proclaimed himself redeemed of his previous mistakes.

On 24 December 1800, Arno prevented a Royalist assassination attempt on Napoleon involving snipers, as well as an explosive device known as the Machine Infernale. Arno managed to assassinate the snipers before they could fire at Napoleon's carriage, and the Machine Infernale was detonated too early, away from Napoleon's carriage. Arno then tracked down the Royalist leader behind the assassination attempt and eliminated him and his henchmen.

In 1808, Arno entered the Temple once more, accompanied by Napoleon. There, they discovered Germain's corpse which had long since decayed. They then buried his skeletal remains in the Parisian catacombs.


	10. Chapter 10

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Jacob Frye and Evie Frye in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertainments Montreal facility. In 1868, Henry Green—born Jayadeep Mir, the son of Indian Assassin, Arbaaz Mir—writes to the Assassin Brotherhood begging for aid. Green explains that the Brotherhood in London has fallen, leaving the city at the mercy of Templar Grand Master Crawford Starrick, who controls both London's industry and criminal underworld. Starrick plans to use his wealth and influence to seize control of Britain and, through its holdings, the world. Outside of London, the Frye twins begin their work, with Jacob assassinating a corrupt factory boss, Rupert Ferris. Evie infiltrates a lab owned and run by and Templar occultist Lucy Thorne. Inside, Evie finds Brewster experimenting on a Piece of Eden and assassinates him. Brewster tells Evie that Starrick knows of a second, more powerful Piece of Eden when the first Piece of Eden becomes unstable and explodes, forcing Evie to flee. With their missions successful, the Frye twins decide to disobey orders from the Brotherhood and head for London.

In the past, the Frye twins arrive in London and meet with Henry Green, who reveals himself as an old acquaintance of their father. They have differing ideas on how to liberate London: Jacob advocates that they take the fight straight to the Templars, while Evie advises they find the Piece of Eden first. They agree to begin liberating the various boroughs of London by defeating Templar-controlled gangs, sabotaging Templar-controlled businesses, assassinating high ranking Templars, and building up their own criminal gang called the Rooks. Along the way, they enlist the help of various people including Charles Dickens , Frederick Abberline, Alexander Graham Bell , Florence Nightingale, Edward Hodson Bayley, and a young Arthur Conan Doyle.

Jacob decides to investigate the mysterious and addictive "Soothing Syrup" that Starrick has been distributing all across London and is slowly poisoning the populace. He meets Charles Darwin, who is also investigating the syrup. Together, they destroy the factory producing the syrup and interrogate . Owen informs them that has been manufacturing the syrup. Jacob and Darwin then head to Lambeth Asylum, where Jacob assassinates Elliotson. Next, Jacob decides to assist Pearl Attaway, one of Starrick's competitors in the omnibus business. He sabotages Starrick's omnibus company and assassinates its boss, Malcolm Milner. However, Milner warns Jacob that Starrick and Attaway are cousins and that Attaway is a Templar. In response, Jacob assassinates Attaway. Jacob then learns of Templar banker Philip Twopenny's plot to rob the and steal its gold reserve. With Abberline's assistance, Jacob breaks into the Bank and assassinates Twopenny. Jacob then heads to Parliament to prevent a Templar plot to assassinate British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli , who is pushing to pass the Corrupt Practices Act. Jacob assassinates the mastermind, the Earl of Cardigan.

Jacob is then contacted by Maxwell Roth, the leader of the Templar-controlled gang, the Blighters. Roth offers to betray the Templars and form an alliance with the Rooks, which Jacob accepts. After assisting Roth in several missions against Starrick, Jacob breaks off the alliance when Roth tricks him into bombing a building full of child laborers. Jacob infiltrates Roth's at the Alhambra Theatre headquarters and assassinates Roth.

Meanwhile, Evie looks for the Piece of Eden, managing to steal an Assassin journal from Thorne. Analyzing the journal, Evie discovers that it refers to the Shroud of Eden, a Piece of Eden that can heal any injury, including old age, and makes the wearer immortal. She follows the trail of clues underneath the mansion of , where she finds a map detailing the locations of all of the Assassin vaults hidden in London. Her search leads her to famous landmarks such as the Monument to the Great Fire of London and St Paul's Cathedral. She obtains the key needed to access the Shroud's vault, but it is stolen by Thorne. Evie then heads to the , where the vault is located and assassinates Thorne. Thorne explains the Shroud is not in the Tower and claims that the Assassins have no idea of the true power of the Shroud before dying. Green believes the real vault is hidden in Buckingham Palace, and enlists the aid of the Maharajah Duleep Singh to find the schematics for the building. Unfortunately, the Templars manage to seize the schematics first. In addition to her hunt for the Shroud, Evie also helps correct the unintended consequences Jacob's assassinations have caused such as medicine shortages and currency inflation.

With all of his lieutenants dead, Starrick moves to retrieve the Shroud personally. Throughout the latter part of the game, the twins' different views on approaching their time in London come to a boiling point when Jacob and Evie get into an argument over Jacob's recklessness and Evie's apparent inaction. Henry warns the Frye twins that Starrick plans to break into Buckingham Palace, steal the Shroud, and kill all of Britain's heads of church and state. The Frye twins agree to work together to stop Starrick before going their separate ways. The twins infiltrate a ball being held at the palace, where they meet Queen Victoria and Starrick himself. Starrick beats them to the vault and obtains the Shroud for himself, which grants him superhuman strength and regeneration from wounds. Working together, the Frye twins and Green manage to defeat and kill Starrick. After the battle, Jacob and Evie return the Shroud to the vault, reconcile their differences, and agree to continue working together. In recognition of their deeds, Queen Victoria knights the Frye twins and Green.

The Frye twins are approached by Henry Raymond, a writer penny dreadful, as well as his follower, a young Arthur Conan Doyle. They team up to investigate a series of murders across London, visiting crime scenes, gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses and suspects, and ultimately solving the crimes by accusing the true perpetrators.

The twins are eventually summoned to Buckingham Palace by Queen Victoria, in order to solve the murder of one of her guards. It turns out that it is in fact Raymond who has posed as a guard and faked his own death, so he may steal the Queen's Sceptre of the Dove by observing up close the combination to the safe that holds it. He has also left a series of false clues suggesting a bomb threat in the palace in order to cover his escape. However Doyle has already uncovered his plan and set out to stop him, but is held hostage on the palace roof in the process. One of the Fryes manages to distract Raymond while the other sneaks up and kills him, saving Doyle and recovering the Sceptre. In the aftermath, the Fryes encourage Doyle to try his own hand at writing detective fiction.

After an unpleasant conversation with Duleep Singh regarding his lack of commitment to the people of India, Henry Green decides to enlist the help of the Frye twins so the Maharaja could be persuaded to reclaim his birthright. The twins manage to recover Singh's letters to his mother, which were previously intercepted by the British Indies Company (B.I.C.) in order to stop any correspondence. This finally convinces Singh that he should take action.

Singh orders the twins to locate and recover the stolen Punjabi gold, before arranging for transports to ship the gold back to India. He then proposes to recover the Koh-i -Noor, a diamond in the possession of Queen Victoria, currently kept in the Tower of London. The twins accomplish the goal by infiltrating a gala held at that location; however Henry shows that the diamond they recover is a replica, and the true Koh-i-Noor is in fact in the safe hands of the British Assassins, thanks to Jayadeep's father Arbaaz Mir handing over the diamond to Jacob and Evie's father Ethan Frye.

The twins head to a B.I.C. factory and put an end to the company's production of biological weapons. In the process, they also discover that Brinley Ellsworth, a close friend of Singh's, is in fact behind the plots against the Maharaja. Singh arranges for a meeting where he confronts Ellsworth. With Evie's help, Ellsworth is subdued. However, as Evie prepares to execute Ellsworth, she is stopped by Singh, who chooses to exercise mercy. Singh thanks the twins for their contribution before parting ways with them, continuing to fight for his heritage.

The story begins in 1888, 20 years after the main game, with the Assassin Jacob Frye meeting Mr. Weaversbrook, who is warned not to publish 's Jack letters as he wants to spread fear in London. He then receives word of another murder and goes to investigate. Jacob goes after the Ripper, who begins following him before eventually attacking. As the Ripper pursues Jacob, it is revealed that he knows Jacob personally, and possesses Assassin abilities. After escaping, Jacob reaches his lodgings, but the Ripper arrives and attacks again, with Jacob seemingly being killed.

Following the incident, Jacob's sister Evie Frye arrives from India, having been summoned by Jacob some time before, where she is greeted by police inspector Frederick Abberline, who informs her that Jacob is missing and presumed dead. He also tells her that she may be the last Assassin remaining in London, and the only one capable of stopping the Ripper. After finding Jacob's lodgings, Evie takes some non-lethal fear tools used by the Indian Brotherhood. She also deduces that the Ripper is in fact one of Jacob's Assassin Initiates. Afterward, she kills the Ripper's lieutenants who have been aiding in his crimes and frees a number of prisoners he had been keeping hostage. All the while, the Ripper stalks Evie.

With more murders occurring, Evie is pressured to find the Ripper quickly; after the Ripper's final murder, Abberline makes it plain unless she delivers the Ripper, he will not be able to stop her from being arrested for the crimes – Evie vows to stop the Ripper or die to try. She re-examines all of his old crime scenes and finds hidden clues that lead to him, as well as learning the fact that all of the women he murdered were Assassins. She later finds a message left by the Ripper, which reveals that he never forgave Jacob for failing to protect his mother from being killed by Starrick's men. Evie deduces that the Ripper is waiting for her at Lambeth Asylum, where he was imprisoned before Jacob recruited him into the Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the Ripper returns to the Asylum and murders his former tormentors. Evie arrives shortly after the Ripper and kills him in battle. Afterward, she finds an imprisoned but still alive Jacob. With the Ripper dead, Abberline agrees to cover up the Ripper's identity as an Assassin in order to protect the Brotherhood.

In 1916, at the behest of Winston Churchill, Lydia infiltrated and eliminated a German Templar spy facility in Tower Bridge. She later sought out, on his request, the rest of the group and their Sage leader that he deemed to be a pressing matter of national security which he was unable to broach with the government as he lacked strong enough evidence. In exchange for her services, Churchill promised Lydia that he would do what he could for the enfranchisement of women when he had returned to parliament after the War.

Lydia later conquers every single Templar-infested area, killing German spies and Templar captains, finally flushing the Sage out of his hiding place and killing him.

In October 2015, I detroyed the Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, China. I destroyed all samples of Precursor DNA at the Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, China. I destroyed all clones of John Standish at the Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, China. I destroyed the new cloned body of Juno at the Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, China. I recovered the Shroud of Eden 2, the Precursor box, and the Koh-i-Noor from the Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, China. I killed Isabelle Ardant, Juhani Otso Berg, Álvaro Gramática, and Violet da Costa at the Phoenix Project facility in Hong Kong, China. I destroyed the bodies of Isabelle Ardant, Juhani Otso Berg, Álvaro Gramática, and Violet da Costa. The Phoenix Project had been cancelled. The Instruments of the First Will had been disbanded.


	11. Chapter 11

Assassin's Creed Chronicles China

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Shao Jun in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertainments Montreal facility. In 1526, Jun used the box given to her by Ezio as bait and allowed herself to be imprisoned by Gao Feng, one of the Eight Tigers. She was taken to an old Assassin stronghold turned Templar secret prison, the Maijishan Grottoes, where Jun remained silent when Feng questioned her about the origins and purpose of the box and only replied that she was exactly where she wanted to be, to Feng's irritation. After escaping her cell, she freed the Assassin informant Hong Liwei and retrieved the remaining Assassin scrolls. Jun eventually killed Gao Feng and fled from the prison to meet her Mentor, Wang Yangming, who had also eliminated one of the Tigers, the torturer and "butcher" Ma Yongcheng. Though Jun was not able to retrieve the box, Wang told her not to worry for they would find it in time.

Sometime after, Wang located the stolen box in Macau, in the hand of the third Tiger, Yu Dayong. Shao Jun infiltrated the city stronghold through the docks and quickly heard about three Portuguese merchants who suddenly became rich and important after helping the Tigers and killing her allies. She assassinated them along with their master Yu, freed his slaves, reclaimed the box, and escaped the fire set in retaliation by Qiu Ju, the fourth Tiger. The fire had killed many innocents, much to Jun's dismay, to which she blamed her desire for revenge. Wang warned her about the vengeance she sought, although in line with the Assassin cause, he added that it was an endeavor that could not be put in her heart, just as Ezio had told her before.

Three years later, to get to the leader of the Tigers, Zhang Yong, Shao Jun traveled to Nan'an to kill the fifth Tiger, Wei Bin, who had led the slaughter of the Chinese Brotherhood. The words of Wang still echoed in her mind and hatred was too strong in her heart. To leave room for peace, she decided to pay her respects in the shrines for her brothers who were murdered by the Snake. After crossing the guarded bridge of Nan'an, Jun killed three of Wei's bodyguards before assassinating him. As Wei Bin died, he told Shao Jun that Zhang was hunting Wang Yangming, who was also in the city to meet a contact able to study the box. Shao Jun immediately left to save her Mentor but arrived too late, witnessing Zhang killing Wang and claiming the box again. After killing the rest of Zhang Yong's soldiers, Jun apologized to her deceased Mentor and realized that there was no good in taking revenge if she kept losing those she cared for.

Now the very last Chinese Assassin, Jun was contacted in 1530 by Empress Zhang, Shao Jun's former concubine friend, who had a lead on Zhang Yong's location. To meet her, Shao Jun infiltrated the Forbidden City and saved Zhang's concubines who helped her pass the information. Jun was horrified to find that Zhang Yong and Qiu Ju had threatened the Empress to set a trap, for which she forgave her friend and understood the risk Zhang had to take if she refused. The Templars mocked her, saying that the Assassins were too trusting, and that was how they had destroyed the Brotherhood and killed her Mentor. As Shao Jun dueled Qiu while Zhang Yong fled, lanterns dropped during the fight spread fire across the city. After killing Qiu, Jun was forced to escape with a leap of faith into a nearby river.

1532, Shao Jun pursued Zhang Yong, the last Tiger, to the Great Wall of China, where she learned his plans to let the Mongols of Altan Khan invade the country, in return for a seat in power after the outcome. In response, she killed the Mongol scouts and closed the Wall's gates, blocking the barbarians from entering her home. When Jun finally reached Zhang Yong, she learned that he had already sent the Precursor box to other Templars outside China, though she rebutted that retrieving the box was another Assassin's destiny, and hers was to eliminate him.

Among the chaos of bombardment from the infuriated Mongols, she eventually reached Zhang and assassinated him, eliminating the last Tiger and Templar influence in China. As Zhang Yong died, Jun realized that pursuing vengeance was pointless and that she had found a better goal: the future. Shao Jun vowed to rebuild the Chinese Assassin Brotherhood and bring a new tomorrow for China and freedom for its people.


	12. Chapter 12

**Assassin's Creed Chronicles India**

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of my Arbaaz Mir at Mumbai. In 1841, while returning to duty after visiting Pyara at the summer palace, not without stealing some jewels from the Maharajah's guard, Arbaaz noticed that the East India Company, now led by Cotton's replacement, Master Templar William Sleeman, had brutally kidnapped Hamid and that they had also stolen the Koh-I-Noor under Sleeman's commands. Arbaaz followed Hamid's blood trail to a high ranking member of the Company, and after fiercely interrogating him, he discovered that Hamid was at the Templar's headquarters outside Amritsar. Arbaaz also managed to retrieve some information about the Templars' plans while following the blood trail.

Arbaaz managed to infiltrate the headquarters and rescue Hamid by disguising himself as a civilian, while also eliminating some high-ranking Templars in the process. Once safe, Hamid informed Arbaaz about Sleeman's plans and his right hand, Alexander Burnes. They planned to unravel the Koh-I-Noor's secrets with the help of a Precursor box. With this information, Hamid assigned Arbaaz with the mission of stealing both the Koh-I-Noor and the box from the Templars and sent him to the Templar's outpost, a palace in which Hamid suspected there was a Precursor site under it.


	13. Chapter 13

Assassin's Creed Chronicles Russia

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Nikolai Orelov in the Animus Omega at Abstergo Entertainments Montreal facility. In July 1918, months after the October Revolution, a disillusioned Orelov decided to retire from the Assassins and leave the country with his family. Needing false documents to escape the turmoil in Russia and unable to get it through the Assassins without revealing his departure, Orelov decided to accept one last mission for the Brotherhood hoping to find some money to buy new identities for his family. Traveling to Saint Petersburg, Orelov met another Assassin who tasked him with stealing Ezio's Precursor box, which according to informants was in possession of the Tsar's family, who were kept prisoners by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg.

Once there, Nikolaï discovered that the artifact was also coveted by the Templars, who had infiltrated the ranks of the Red Army and were planning the death of the Romanovs. While in the city, Orelov also found safes containing jewels left untouched by the looters and took possession of them to finance his departure. Infiltrating the house where the Romanovs were kept, Nikolaï witnessed the murder of the Imperial family but reached Princess Anastasia, who was holding the box, in time to secure the artifact. However, as Nikolaï was taking the Precursor box from Anastasia's hands, the shard of the Staff around his neck and the box interacted, and the girl was somehow imprinted with the genetic memories of Chinese Assassin Shao Jun. Suffering from a kind of Bleeding Effect, Anastasia became overwhelmed by Jun's skills and memories and the older man decided to take her under his protection and bring her to the Brotherhood in Moscow in the hope that the Assassins could heal her.

Pursued by both the Bolsheviks and the Templars, the two escaped from Yekaterinburg by hiding on a train and in September, after evading their pursuers, eventually arrived in Kazan. While the city was in the midst of a civil war with the Red Army about to launch an assault to retake the city from their enemies, Nikolaï hoped to find help from his good friend and leader of the army, Leon Trotsky. He left the box in the care of Anastasia and ordered her to stay hidden until his return. Evading the numerous soldiers in Kazan, Nikolaï found Trotsky in an isolated house. Unfortunately for Nikolaï, Trotsky thought that Anastasia was too dangerous as a symbol to be left alive and for the sake of the Revolution, having deduced that Nikolaï would come to him, had betrayed his friend to the Templars who captured the Assassin.

While Nikolaï was tortured by the Templars who wanted to know the location of both the box and Anastasia, the girl, worried about Nikolaï, decided to look for him. Using the abilities of Jun, Anastasia eventually reached the house where the Templars were keeping Nikolaï, and after eliminating all of them, she freed her amazed protector. The two then escaped the city, with Orelov covering the girl from the rooftops, sniping every guard in Anastasia's path. They successfully reached the Volga and sailed on a boat toward Moscow.

Once in Moscow, Nikolaï and Anastasia were met by the Assassin scientist Sergei who, after receiving the Precursor box, also assured Nikolaï that he would bring the princess to the Mentor to find a cure for her conflicted personalities. Despite Nikolaï wanting to go with the girl, Sergei sent him to the Assassins' local bureau to make a report on the latest events. While waiting at the bureau, Nikolaï overheard other Assassins talking about Anastasia's condition and the fact that she was now like a living Precursor artifact; the Mentor and Sergei wanted to extract Jun's memories from Anastasia through a process that would probably kill her or leave her barely human.

Caring for the girl he had protected during the last two months, and enraged by his Brothers' lies about their dishonorable projects for Anastasia, Nikolaï decided to fight against his Brothers and save her. Extracting the location of the facility where Anastasia was kept from an Assassin he threatened, Nikolaï rushed toward the Kremlin, trying to knock out the Assassins chasing after him instead of killing them when it was impossible to avoid them. Nikolaï ran through the city by traveling on the roof of the tramways and then through the sewage system before being joined by Ilia, an Assassin who, by friendship toward Orelov, decided to help him by giving him the access codes to the laboratories.

Once in the underground laboratories, Nikolaï freed Anastasia from her captors. Working together, they managed to escape and reached the surface, also destroying the laboratories in the process. As they believed to be safe, a tank driven by Assassins appeared, and Nikolaï told Anastasia to flee and wait for him at the Bolshoi Theatre as he was taking care of it. Chased throughout Moscow by the tank, Nikolaï eventually succeeded in destroying it by shooting at its weakest points with his rifle.

Nikolaï later met Anastasia at the Bolshoi, where he gave her the false documents originally destined for his wife and part of the documents he had managed to buy for himself and his family. Now known as Anna Anderson, Anastasia made her farewells and left after having told Nikolaï that she was heading for Germany and that she was confident in her ability to control the memories of Shao Jun and keep being herself.


	14. Chapter 14

Assassin's Creed The Movie

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Aguilar de Nerha in the Animus 4.3 at Abstergo Industries Madrid facility. Aguilar de Nerrha was trained by Mentor Benedicto before being formally inducted into the Order in 1492. As part of the ceremony, he had his ring-finger amputated as was traditional among the Assassins of old. During his training, Aguilar also grew close with his sparring partner, Maria, and the two began a romantic relationship.

Aguilar's first mission was to spy on a meeting between Torquemada and his top enforcer, Ojeda, during which he learned that the King and the Queen had given command of the Spanish army to the Grand Inquisitor and that the Templars were about to set a new plan in motion. Meeting with Maria, the senior Assassin tasked Aguilar to gather other Assassins and set a new base of operation in an abandoned fortress of the Sierra de Cazorla, from which the Assassins harassed the Templars.

Later, the Spanish Assassins tried to ensure the safety of Prince Ahmed of Granada, the son of Sultan Muhammad XII of Granada, whom the Templars were searching for to ransom him against the Apple of Eden they knew to be in the Sultan's possession. Together with Maria, Benedicto, and some other Assassins, Aguilar ambushed a Templar force led by Ojeda in a small Andalusian village where the Prince had been hiding.

Despite the Assassins being outnumbered and eventually overpowered, both Aguilar and Maria managed to escape the village with the Prince, though they were quickly pursued by Ojeda and a number of his soldiers. The pursuit lasted some time, but eventually, Aguilar was cornered and imprisoned by the Templars.

Following their arrest, the surviving Assassins were transported to Seville, where they were denounced as heretics and sentenced to burn at stake by Torquemada. In the presence of the king of Aragon and Queen of Castille, Aguilar watched as Ojeda lit the pyre beneath Benedicto's feet, burning him alive. Despite this, however, Aguilar was able to escape his bonds and engaged the Templars as they closed in. He eventually managed to also free Maria and together, the two Assassins made their escape through the streets of Seville.

Once more pursued by Ojeda and his soldiers, this time across the rooftops of the city, the Assassins made their way to Seville Cathedral, which was under construction at the time. They managed to eliminate several of their Templar pursuers in the process, before finally making their escape by climbing the cathedral's scaffolding and performing a Leap of Faith into the streets below.

On 2 January 1492, at the urging of the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze - who also happened to be in Spain at the time - Muhammad XII surrendered his capital, Granada, to Torquemada's forces. As the Templars entered the city both Aguilar and Maria made their way to the Sultan's palace, where they stood watch as the Sultan reluctantly handed over the Apple in exchange for his son's safety before they made their move.

Dropping smoke bombs into the room, both Assassins quickly eliminated many of the Templars, before Aguilar captured Torquemada and claimed the Apple. Unfortunately for the Assassin, however, Ojeda had managed to apprehend Aguilar's lover, Maria. Ojeda promised to release his captive once Aguilar returned the Apple to Torquemada; Aguilar reluctantly agreed, but before he could act, he witnessed Maria take her own life with Ojeda's blade to prevent him from betraying the Creed to save her life.

Enraged by her death, Aguilar engaged Ojeda in combat but was gradually overcome by his opponent's sheer strength. It was only after he had been knocked to the ground that Aguilar managed to gain the upper hand, using Maria's launchable Hidden Blade to attack Ojeda and render him defenseless to Aguilar's strikes. With Ojeda dead, a heavily wounded Aguilar was forced to make his escape through the tunnels beneath the palace as Torquemada opened the locked door of the room to the rest of his men.

Aguilar was eventually surrounded on one of the bridges leading from the city, but once more escaped by performing a Leap of Faith into the river far below.

Following the events in Granada, Aguilar realized that the Apple would never be safe from the Templars if it remained in his possession. He made his way to Huelva, where he charged Christopher Columbus, an ally of the Assassins in Spain, with protecting it.

I recovered Aguilar's Apple of Eden from Grand Temple Hall in London, the United Kingdom. I killed McGowen **,** Alan Rikkin, Sophia Rikkin, and Ellen Kaye at Grand Templar Hall in London, the United Kingdom. I destroyed the bodies of McGowen **,** Alan Rikkin, Sophia Rikkin, and Ellen Kaye.


	15. Chapter 15

Assassin's Creed Origins

Desmond Miles POV

I relived the life of Bayek and Aya in the Animus HR-8 at Abstergo Industries Madrid facility. In 49 B.C.E., Bayek, a respected Medjay in charge of protecting the Siwa Oasis, is abducted along with his son Khemu by a group of five masked men to an underground vault in the Temple of Amun. The masked men give Bayek a golden orb and demand that he use it to open a secret Vault. Khemu helps Bayek escape, but during the struggle to kill one of the masked men, Bayek is made to inadvertently stabs Khemu in the chest, killing him.

One year later, in 48 BCE, Bayek had exiled himself from Siwa to track down the five masked men to take his revenge. He finds the first one, Rudjek "The Heron," and kills him. Bayek then returns to Siwa to kill the local priest Medunamun, "The Ibis", who has been torturing Siwans for information to open the same vault. After, killing Medunamun, Bayek then heads for Alexandria, where Aya has been tracking another of the masked men. Upon meeting Aya, she reveals that she has already killed Actaeon "The Vulture" and Ktesos "The Ram", leaving only one target left, "The Snake". Aya also reveals that she has been working with Apollodorus and Cleopatra to uncover The Snake's identity. She gives Bayek the very first Hidden Blade. Bayek discovers that "The Snake" is Eudoros, the royal scribe, and tracks him to a bathhouse. Bayek kills Eudoros with the hidden blade, at the cost of is own left ring finger, cut off by the same blade.

Bayek remembers Eudoros' words and begins to have doubts. He decides to meet with Apollodorus and Cleopatra for answers. Cleopatra tells Bayek that she was ousted from the throne by the masked men, who call themselves the Order of the Ancients and seek to control all of Egypt by using Ptolemy as their puppet. In addition, there are more members of Order than the five Bayek and Aya had already killed: "The Scarab", "The Hyena", "The Lizard", and "The Crocodile". In fact, Eudoros was actually "The Hippo", and the name of "The Snake" is used to refer to the Order as a whole. Confronted with this new information, Bayek agrees to become Cleopatra's Medjay and assassinate the remaining members of the Order. Bayek eventually tracks down and kills all of them while Aya convinces Pompey the Great to ally with Cleopatra.

Bayek receives a letter from Aya explaining that there are two more members of the Order, "The Scorpion" and "The Jackal", who are members of Ptolemy's royal guard and the likely culprits responsible for Khemu's death. He finds out that Lucius Septimius is the Jackal and tracks him, but is too late to stop him from assassinating Pompey. With no other options, Cleopatra has Bayek and Aya help sneak her into the palace in order to meet Julius Caesar. Cleopatra is able to impress Caesar and secure his support. Bayek manages to kill Pothinus, "The Scorpion", but is stopped from killing Septimius by Caesar, while Aya watches as Ptolemy is eaten by crocodiles as he tries to flee across the Nile.

After the end of the civil war, Cleopatra takes the throne as Pharaoh. Septimius becomes an advisor to Caesar and Cleopatra cuts ties with Bayek and Aya. Bayek and his supporters realize that Cleopatra and Caesar have now allied themselves with the Order. Regretting his mistake in supporting Cleopatra, Bayek gathers all of the allies he has made and decides to form a brotherhood to counter the Order and defend the free will of the common people. Bayek and Aya recall the great interest the Order showed in the tomb of Alexander the Great and they go to investigate. There, they find a mortally wounded Apollodorus who warns them that Caesar's lieutenant, Flavius, is "The Lion" and the true leader of the Order. He and Septimius had taken the Orb and a Staff from the tomb and are heading back to Siwa for the Vault.

Upon returning to Siwa, they find the Vault already opened. Bayek tracks down and confronts Flavius, who now bears the activated Apple of Eden, but Bayek is able to defeat and kill him, finally avenging Khemu's death. Bayek then returns to Aya, who has recruited Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger and Gaius Cassius Longinus to their cause. She plans to head to Rome with Brutus and Cassius to assassinate Caesar and Septimius. Sundered by their paths of blood and shadow and hollowed by the death of their child, Bayek and Aya decide finally to part ways but cement the foundation of the Assassin Brotherhood when they both swear to fight from the shadows to protect the world. As they part, Bayek discards his eagle's skull charm, a necklace of Khemu's. Aya picks it up and notices the impression it leaves in the sand - the icon of their new Brotherhood.

In Rome, Aya confronts Septimius, who wields the Staff of Eden, and she defeats and kills him. She then infiltrates the Roman Senate and assassinates Caesar. Later, she meets with Cleopatra and warns her to be a fair ruler or she will return to assassinate her. Afterward, Bayek and Aya (now calling herself Amunet) begin recruiting and training other Assassins as they build the Assassin Brotherhood in Egypt and Rome respectively.

Bayek learns of a Roman camp to the north of Siwa from a Roman scholar named Otis. While there he learns that a Roman General is planning to bribe various Greek and Egyptian officials to set up a communication network. Bayek stops the bribes, but when he goes to seek out Otis he finds that he has been killed. Bayek finds a final note from Otis, explaining that the plot was coordinated by General Rufio and that Otis was working for Amunet.

Four years later Bayek receives a letter from Tahira saying that the region of Sinai is at war with Rome and that two members of The Hidden Ones have been killed in a massacre. Traveling to the region, there Bayek meets with Tahira, who introduces him to Gamilat, the leader of the rebels. The three plan to draw out General Rufio, the leader of the Romans in the area, by killing his lieutenants; Tacito, Ptahmose, and Ampelius.

While the Hidden Ones are successful in doing so, their hideout is discovered by the Romans. An attack causes Bayek, Tahira, and Kashta to be captured and Bayek is crucified. Before he can be killed, however, Bayek is saved by Amunet and the two rescue Kashta and Tahira, though she later succumbs to her injuries. Amunet tells Bayek that the Sinai branch of The Hidden Ones has been too loud, to the point where she had heard tell of them even in Rome, and that there may be a traitor among them. The two discover Rufio's men burning down a village and stop them before assassinating Rufio.

Amunet then informs Bayek that Gamilat has been provoking Roman soldiers into combat, then hiding his rebels among villages to cause massacres. This creates new rebels, thus bolstering the size of his army. Horrified by this, Bayek confronts Gamilat, who believes he was in the right to do so. Bayek kills Gamilat, who comes to regret his actions while dying. Afterward, Amunet and Bayek decide to form a creed with the other Hidden Ones, to swear they would not become like Gamilat and exploit innocents for their own cause. Amunet decides to return to Rome, while Bayek remains in Egypt.

Bayek receives a letter from Amunet warning him that an artifact has surfaced in Upper Egypt and that he must go recover it. Upon arriving in, Bayek is told by Amunet's contact Meti that an artifact had recently been stolen from an unknown pharaoh's tomb, placing a curse on Thebes that resurrects the spirits of dead pharaohs to attack the populace. Bayek investigates and discovers that a local criminal named Irsu allegedly stole a relic from Queen 's tomb. Following the trail, Bayek finds that the relic had been stolen from Irsu by his nephew, Sutekh. Sutekh gives the relic to Bayek under the condition he returns it to Nefertiti's tomb. Traveling into the tomb, Bayek finds himself transported to the realm of, where he returns the relic to Nefertiti's throne. However, Nefertiti's shadow attacks Bayek, forcing him to destroy it, and he realizes that the real relic he is searching for is still missing.

Continuing to follow the trail, Bayek heads out to the Theban countryside where he discovers that the local farmers have managed to avoid the curse by worshiping. After some more investigation, Bayek concludes that the relic must have been the, stolen from Akhenaten's tomb. He consults with the priestess of Amun, Isidora, who tells him that the curse should be lifted if he purifies Akhenaten's tomb with dust taken off from a statue of. Bayek travels to Akhenaten's tomb and finds himself back in Duat. There, he spreads the dust on Akhenaten's throne, summoning his shadow which Bayek destroys. Bayek realizes that Akhenaten passed the Aten on to his successors, which means it could have been stolen from any pharaoh's tomb.

Bayek continues the hunt, investigating a ship that may have smuggled the Aten out of Thebes. He then encounters Sutekh again, who tells him Meti owns the ship. Bayek confronts Meti, who admits that she was previously involved in the ring of tomb robbers searching for the Aten. While she does not know who stole it, she directs Bayek to talk to the local gambler and antiquarian Tahemet. She tells Bayek to investigate the Necropolis of Nobles. There, Bayek finds evidence that the Aten had been in the possession of the priests of Amun since Akhenaten's death. Realizing that Isidora had lied to him and is planning to unlock the true power of the Aten to use for her own ends, Bayek pursues her to the tomb of. There, he finds that Isidora had gathered all of the descendants of, with Sutekh among them, to use them in her ritual. Isidora uses the power of the Aten to summon Tutankhamun's shadow, which Bayek defeats and he assassinates Isidora. With the threat over, Bayek entrusts the Aten to Sutekh, instructing him to hide it somewhere where nobody can find it.

I recovered the Staff of Eden from the Tomb of Alexander the Great in Alexandria, Egypt. I ended the Assassin-Templar War. The Templar Order and the Assassin Brotherhood had been disbanded.


	16. Chapter 16

The End

Desmond Miles POV

I destroyed the Piece of Eden from the Philadelphia Project which is capable of manipulating time at the abandon Abstergo Industries Philadelphia facility. My body started to fade away bit by bit. Until I completely vanished and ascended within the spacetime continuum.


End file.
